It was a familiar enough scene in Egypt's vendetta-plagued hinterland: a village shopkeeper insults a customer who wants to buy on credit. The client returns with friends. When the merchant refuses to say he is sorry they open fire, wounding three people. The trouble is that the shopkeeper attacked on December 31st was Christian and his attackers Muslim. As rumours spread to neighbouring villages, the customer's fellow-clansmen launched a pogrom that left at least 20 people dead.
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