Palm Sunday blasts kill 44 at Egyptian churches
Islamic State claims responsibility for attacking Christians
Bomb blasts tore through crowds celebrating the Christian holiday of Palm Sunday in two Egyptian cities, killing at least 44 worshippers and injuring scores more.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for bombings at Coptic Christian churches in the Nile Delta city of Tanta, where at least 27 died, and hours later in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, where at least 17 were killed, the Interior Ministry said.
The attacks, which injured more than 100, came less than a week after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi visited the White House.
“So sad to hear of the terrorist attack in Egypt. U.S. strongly condemns. I have great ... confiappears dence that President el-Sissi will handle situation properly,” President Donald Trump tweeted.
El-Sissi ordered the armed forces to help police secure vital locations across the nation and declared a three-month state of emergency. He ordered three days of national mourning for the victims.
The attacks came two months after the Islamic State released a video showing its militants pledging to kill Coptic Christians across Egypt. The footage included statements claiming responsibility for a December attack on a Cairo cathedral that killed 29 people.
Palm Sunday is among the holiest days on the Christian calendar, marking the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, and churches traditionally draw big crowds. Susan Mikhail, who lives near St. George’s Church in Tanta, told The Associated Press the explosion shook her building.
“Deacons were the first to run out of the church. Many of them had blood on their white robes,” she told the AP. Many of the seriously wounded were carried out by survivors and taken to hospitals in private cars, she said.
Al-Ahram Arabic reported that security forces also dismantled two explosive devices at Sidi Abdel Rahim mosque in Tanta, a city of more than 400,000 about 80 miles southeast of Alexandria. The mosque is considered among the most important in the city.
In Alexandria, officials said a suicide bomber had planned to use an explosive belt inside St. Mark’s Cathedral, but the security force assigned to protect the cathedral stopped him. At least three police officers were killed preventing the suicide bomber from entering the cathedral, Ahram Online reported. Authorities said the Coptic pope for Alexandria, Pope Tawadros II, was inside leading the prayers but was not injured.
Egyptian state television broadcast footage from the church’s security cameras that to show the suicide bomber outside the Alexandria cathedral. The man attempts to enter the cathedral, but is directed to a metal detector. The man enters the detector briefly, then takes a step back before the screen is filled with smoke.
The Coptic Church is based on the teachings of Saint Mark, the apostle who brought Christianity to Egypt in the first century. Egypt’s Copts have long complained of discrimination.
The U.S. Embassy in Cairo issued a statement expressing condolences to victims, their families and loved ones. “The United States stands firmly with the Egyptian government and people to defeat terrorism,” the statement said.
Pope Francis, French President François Hollande, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin were among world leaders to issue condolences. Putin said that “the crime committed in the middle of a religious holiday shocks with its cruelty and cynicism.”