By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
CAIRO, EGYPT (Worthy News)-- A mob threw firebombs and rocks at police Friday as dozens of Muslims attacked a church in southern Egypt that was suspected of harboring a woman convert to Christianity.
Officials said about 24 were wounded during the siege of a Coptic Church in Kom Ombo, a town 600 miles south of Cairo.
The violence was triggered by a rumor about a missing Muslim woman who was supposedly seen outside the church with a Christian friend, causing some residents to believe she converted to Christianity and was hiding inside the church; others suspected she was forced to convert and was being held inside against her will.
Similar mob violence over rumors started by Muslims against Egypt's Coptic minority has risen sharply in the wake of the Arab Spring that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.