CAIRO, Jul 14 (Aswat Masriya) – Egypt's interior ministry said on Thursday that it arrested the perpetrators of an attack that killed two people, including a nun, in a shooting on the Cairo-Alexandria desert road on Jul. 5.

In its statement, the interior ministry clarified that the shooting targeted a company owner due to a dispute over the possession of a piece of land in Wadi al-Natrun, in the Beheira province. The nun was shot "by coincidence," the ministry said. 

Three men connected to the attack were arrested, according to the statement.

A senior figure in the Coptic Orthodox Church said on Jul. 5 that gunshots fired at an automobile carrying three nuns killed one of them, state-owned news agency MENA reported then.

Bishop Ermia said via Facebook that three nuns, a doctor, and a driver were in the vehicle on their way to Saint George Coptic Orthodox Monastery in the al-Khatatba village, in Menoufia, when the shooting happened. The others in the car survived.

The Coptic Orthodox Church previously said that that the killing of the nun was a "criminal act," rather than a sectarian one.