Egypt’s Interior Ministry this week revealed the chilling details of a murder case that has shaken the country: a father and his six children were poisoned to death last month in Minya Governorate, and investigators say the killer was the man’s second wife.
According to a statement posted on the ministry’s X account, the stepmother confessed to mixing poison into bread she baked for the children. Investigators said she acted out of jealousy toward the children’s biological mother, fearing her husband would divorce her after reconciling with his first wife.
The case began July 12, when three siblings from the village of Dalga in the Deir Mawas district died under mysterious circumstances. Days later, three more siblings from the same family also died. The children — Ahmed, 5, Omar, 7, Reem, 10, Mohammed, 11, Rahma, 12, Farha, 14 — all died before their father, Nasser Mohamed, who became the final victim.
Health officials at first struggled to determine the cause of death, fueling speculation online that an unknown disease had struck the village. The rumors spread panic among residents until autopsies revealed that the victims had been poisoned.
Local media reported that the stepmother had attended the children’s funerals, weeping alongside relatives to avoid suspicion. While some villagers found her behavior suspicious, others were stunned when the truth emerged.
Al-Youm al-Sabea newspaper reported that relief spread through Deir Mawas when authorities announced the poisoning was a calculated crime, not a contagious illness. Samples taken from the victims reportedly contained pesticides.
In an interview with the Egyptian channel Sada al-Balad, the children’s uncle, Abdel-Fattah Ahmed, said the stepmother used a traditional Egyptian flatbread known as “sun bread” to deliver the poison. He described the devastating condition of the children’s biological mother following the murders.
The Interior Ministry said legal measures have been taken against the suspect but gave no further details.