Police in the Upper Egyptian Governorate of Qena have launched a large scale manhunt for eight Muslim extremists, who are allegedly accused of cutting the ear of a Copt and burning his house to the ground, security sources said on 25 March 2011.

The victim, whose name was not revealed for legal reasons, told prosecutors that eight bearded men had stopped him at knife point on Sunday and cut off his left ear after rumors spread that he was having an affair with a Muslim woman living in his house, the sources said. They set his house on fire and then fled.