PALM SUNDAY MASSACRE
ISIS kills 44 at 2 Egypt churches
Bombers slay Copts in church bloodbaths
SUICIDE BOMBERS attacked two Coptic churches in northern Egyptian cities, killing at least 44 people celebrating Palm Sunday and turning the holy day into grief and bloody devastation.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, which came just weeks before Pope Francis is due to visit the Arab world’s most populous country.
The blasts, which also injured 126 people, prompted Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to call for a three-month state of emergency.
The first ISIS bomber blew himself up inside St. George’s Church in the Nile Delta city of Tanta about 9:30 a.m., killing at least 27 people and wounding 78, officials said.
Photos from the churches showed pews blasted into splinters and pools of blood. One man held up the bloodstained clothes of Coptic clergy.
About four hours later, a suicide bomber rushed toward St. Mark’s Cathedral in the coastal city of Alexandria, the historic seat of Christendom in Egypt, killing at least 17 people and wounding 48, the Interior Ministry said.
Local broadcasts showed a man in a blue pullover passing through a metal detector at St. Mark’s before an explosion engulfed the area.
Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Church, had held Palm Sunday services at St. Mark’s Cathedral, but officials said he escaped unharmed. It was unclear if the bomber’s goals included assassinating the leader of one of the world’s oldest Christian communities. Copts trace their history to the first century and base their theology on the teachings of St. Mark the Apostle, who introduced Christianity to Egypt.
ISIS had recently pledged to escalate attacks against Egypt’s Christians, who have been the targets of extremist violence in recent years.
In December, a bombing at a Cairo church killed 30 people.
President Trump tweeted his condolences and said he had confidence in Sissi. The President praised the dictator during a meeting at the White House last week.
“So sad to hear of the terrorist attack in Egypt. U.S. strongly condemns. I have great confidence that President Al Sisi will handle situation properly,” Trump said.
Hours later, Sissi called for a state of emergency for three months, accusing unspecified countries of fueling instability in Egypt.
“Egyptians have foiled plots and efforts by countries and fascist, terrorist organizations that tried to control Egypt,” he said.
The State Department decried the bombings.
“The United States condemns in the strongest terms the barbaric attacks on Christian places of worship,” the department said.
Francis, marking Palm Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, sent his “deep condolences to my brother, Pope Tawadros II, the Coptic Church and all of the dear Egyptian nation.”
He was expected to call for peace between Muslims and Christians during his upcoming visit to Egypt. Grand Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, head of Egypt’s Al-Azhar — the leading center of learning in Sunni Islam — condemned the attack in Tanta, calling it a “despicable terrorist bombing that targeted the lives of innocents.”
Stunned Egyptians walked through the bloody wreckage of the Tanta church, where bodies were covered in sheets. Whitewashed walls were stained with blood.
“After the explosion, everything became dark from the smoke,” said Edmond Edward, attending services with his brother Emil, who was wounded and leaned on him for support at a nearby hospital, his head covered in bandages.
The blast appeared to be cen-
tered near the altar. The priest leading the service, Father Daniel, was wounded, Edward said.
Susan Mikhail, whose apartment balcony across the street has a clear view of the church and its front yard, said the explosion violently shook her building.
“Deacons were the first to run out of the church. Many of them had blood on their white robes,” she said.
Magdy George Youssef, a deacon at St. George’s, said the church was almost full when the blast occurred and threw him under a pew.
“All I could think of was to find my wife, and all I could see was smoke, blood and completely charred bodies,” the distraught 58-year-old said.
Youssef, who suffered only an injured ear, later found his wife at home with burns to her face.
In the Alexandria blast, six Muslims were among the dead, the Health Ministry said.
Egypt has struggled to combat a wave of Islamic militancy since the 2013 military overthrow of an elected Islamist president.
Coptic Christians are about 10% of Egypt’s predominantly Muslim population. They were largely supportive of the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, and they’ve suffered the wrath of many of his followers, who attacked churches and other Christian sites.
ISIS views Christians as allies of the West in an apocalyptic war against Islam. In February 2015, ISIS released a gruesome video of militants beheading 21 Egyptian Copts on a beach in Libya.Copts have long complained that Egypt’s government does not adequately protect Christians.
“Where is the government?” screamed an angry Maged Saleh, who rushed to St. George’s Church, where his mother escaped the carnage. “There is no government!”