At least 44 dead in Isil suicide bomb attacks on Egypt churches
TWIN bombings devastated Egypt’s Christian community yesterday, killing at least 44 people as Palm Sunday celebrations were crushed by blood-spattered violence.
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts at Alexandria and Tanta, which also injured more than 100 people.
The latest in a string of assaults on Egypt’s Christian minority came as Pope Francis prepares to visit in a show of support later this month.
In the Nile delta town of Tanta, about 60 miles north of Cairo, a bomb tore through the packed Mar Gerges church, killing at least 27 worshippers and injuring more than 70.
Hundreds gathered outside the church shortly after the blast, some weeping and wearing black, while inside, pews were blown apart and a sym- bolic display of palm fronds was left covered in blood.
Witnesses to the Mar Gerges blast told The Daily Telegraph the suicide bomber had been close to the first row of pews when he detonated a device.
Most of the dead, said bystanders, were church servants who had been performing ceremonial duties near the altar at the front of the church.
“I was at the altar when I heard the explosion. I fell to the ground,” church steward Victor Foad told the Telegraph.
On gazing upon the aftermath, he said: “I kept looking at the human remains, but I didn’t recognise who was who because their faces were so damaged, even though I know them.”
The church entrance was equipped with a detector for weapons and explosives – leading many to wonder how the atrocity could have happened.
Hours later in Alexandria, 77 miles to the west, another suicide bomber blew himself up outside St Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, Egypt’s oldest church and the historic seat of the church’s pope. At least 17 people were killed and more than 40 injured.
Pope Tawadros led the St Mark’s Mass but had already left when the bombing occurred. “These acts will not harm the unity and cohesion of the people,” he later said.
Josef Malak, a lawyer and Coptic activist, was at the church when the blast happened around 12.30pm local time. He and other worshippers were locked inside by police as a precaution.
Eyewitnesses said the Alexandria attack happened outside the main gate of the church compound, after the suicide bomber was blocked by police. “When the police officer tried to stop him by force, he exploded the explo- sive belt, killing the police officer and himself,” said Kameel Sadiq Sawiras, secretary general of the church council.
The atrocities are the latest assault on a religious minority increasingly targeted by Islamist militants, and a challenge to President Abdel Fattah alSisi, who has pledged to protect them in his campaign against extremism. Mr Sisi last night declared a three-month state of emergency.
At around 10 per cent of the population, Egypt’s Coptic Christians form the largest minority in the Muslim-majority country of 90 million.
President Trump, who hosted Mr Sisi last week in his first official visit to the US, expressed support for a leader he has said he plans to work more closely with on fighting Islamist militants.
“So sad to hear of the terrorist attack in Egypt. US strongly condemns. I have great confidence that President Al Sisi will handle situation properly,” Mr Trump tweeted.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: “The UK continues to stand with Egypt against terrorism. These attacks only strengthen our determination to work together with the Egyptian government and people against this shared threat.”
Elsewhere there was an outpouring of sympathy from leaders from across the Christian, Muslim and Jewish worlds.
Pope Francis expressed his ‘’deep condolences” to his “brother” the Coptic patriarch, Tawadros, as well as to the Coptic church and “all of the dear Egyptian nation”.