Retaking the town obviously wasn’t a big priority for the Egyptian government, the city has been under Islamist control since early July.

Via Guardian:

Egyptian authorities have finally recaptured a town in central Egypt that had been under the control of hardline supporters of ex-president Mohamed Morsi for more than two months, locals have told the Guardian.

Armed crowds in Delga, a remote town of 120,000 people in Egypt’s Minya province, first scared away its meagre police force following Morsi’s overthrow on 3 July. They then unleashed a campaign of terror on the town’s Coptic Christian minority, who make up around a sixth of the local population.

Two earlier attempts to retake Delga failed, but in the early hours of Monday morning police launched a third and decisive assault, and have now re-entered the town, residents said by telephone.

Further assaults on up to 10 other towns in the region where Islamists have also weakened state control since July are also planned, Minya’s governor, Salah Zeyada, said.

The move on Delga may have come too late for much of the town’s Christian community. Up to 100 Christian families have fled since July, with dozens of Coptic properties – including three of Delga’s five churches – torched and looted. Some Muslims stood by their Christian neighbours, but many Coptics were forced to pay protection money, and were unwilling to roam the streets freely in case they were attacked.

“Nothing can stop anyone in Delga. It’s a free-for-all,” one local Christian activist, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said before police re-entered the town. “Copts tend to stay in their homes without work and our lives are unbearable.”