National Post (National Edition)
BOMBING AT MAIN COPTIC CHRISTIAN CATHEDRAL KILLS 25
A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt’s main Coptic Christian cathedral killed 25 people and wounded another 49 during Sunday mass.
Egypt’s official MENA news agency said an assailant lobbed a bomb into a chapel adjacent to St. Mark’s Cathedral, seat of Egypt’s Orthodox Christian church and home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II, who cut short a visit to Greece to return to Cairo after the blast.
Egyptian state TV and the Health Ministry put the casualty toll at 25 dead and 49 wounded. Contrary to what MENA said, witnesses said the explosion may have been caused by an explosive device planted inside the chapel. A senior cleric said there were unconfirmed reports that a woman left a bag in the chapel’s women’s section before slipping out.
The blast coincided with a national holiday in Egypt marking the birth of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. Most of the victims are thought to be women and children. The attack came two days after a bomb elsewhere in Cairo killed six policemen, an assault claimed by a shadowy group that authorities say is linked to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
That group — called “Hasm,” or “Decisiveness” — distanced itself from the attack in a statement issued Sunday night, saying it does not as a principle kill women, children, the elderly or worshippers.