A bomb exploded in a church north of Cairo that was packed with Palm Sunday worshippers, killing at least 26 people and wounding 71 others, officials said.
The attack in the Nile Delta town of Tanta was the latest in a series of assaults on Egypt's Christian minority, which makes up around 10 percent of the population and has been repeatedly targeted by Islamic extremists. It comes just weeks before Pope Francis is due to visit the Arab world's most populous country.
CBC TV showed footage from inside the Mar Girgis church, where a large number of people gathered around what appeared to be lifeless, bloody bodies covered with papers. Regional Deputy Health Minister Mohammed Sharshar confirmed the toll.
No one immediately claimed the attack, which comes a week before Easter.
Pope Francis decried the bombing, expressing "deep condolences to my brother, Pope Tawadros II, the Coptic church and all of the dear Egyptian nation." Word of the bombing came as Francis himself was marking Palm Sunday in St. Peter's Square.
Grand Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, head of Egypt's Al-Azhar — the leading center of learning in Sunni Islam — likewise condemned the attack, calling it a "despicable terrorist bombing that targeted the lives of innocents."
The attack adds to fears that Islamic extremists who have long been battling security forces in the Sinai Peninsula may shift their focus to civilians.
An Islamic State affiliate claimed a suicide bombing at a Cairo church in December that killed around 30 people, mostly women, as well as a string of killings in the restive northern Sinai that caused hundreds of Christians to flee to safer areas of the country.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/88b8fef3a96e433c902a303cd5db928e/egypt-state-media-bombing-church-nile-delta
The group recently released a video vowing to step up attacks against Christians, who it describes as "infidels" empowering the West against Muslims.
A militant group called Liwa al-Thawra claimed responsibility for an April 1 bomb attack targeting a police training center in Tanta, which wounded 16 people. The group, believed to be linked to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, has mainly targeted security forces and distanced itself from attacks on Christians.
Egypt has struggled to combat a wave of Islamic militancy since the 2013 military overthrow of an elected Islamist president.
The Sinai-based IS affiliate has mainly attacked police and soldiers, but has also claimed bombings that killed civilians, including the downing of a Russian passenger plane over the Sinai in 2015, which killed all 224 people on board and devastated Egypt's tourism industry.
Egypt's Copts are one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East, accounting for around 10 percent of Egypt's 92 million people and have long complained of discrimination.
The Copts were largely supportive of the military overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi, a senior Brotherhood figure, and incurred the wrath of many Islamists, who attacked churches and other Christian institutions after his ouster.
Second Church bombing Alexandria’s St. Mark’s Church, where Coptic pope was conducting mass, killing 11
An explosion struck Sunday near a church in Alexandria, hours after a bomb gutted a church north of Cairo, in an apparent concerted attack on Egypt’s Coptic community to coincide with Palm Sunday services.
According to the Health Ministry, at least 11 people were killed and 33 wounded when a car bomb detonated outside the St. Mark’s Church in the coastal city of Alexandria. State television reported that it was a suicide attack.
Egypt’s Coptic Church said Pope Tawadros II had attended Palm Sunday mass there. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he was still in the building at the time of the attack. His office confirmed that he was unharmed.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, which came a week before Easter.
After Tanta, another explosion in #Alexandria #Egypt targeted the Pope of Coptic Christians during #PalmSunday mass
2 killed, 21 injured pic.twitter.com/9A5VTXYlxU
— maytham (@maytham956) April 9, 2017
The earlier blast at a church in Tanta, north of Cairo, killed 30 people and wounded some 71, officials said, in an apparent attack on Coptic worshipers.
The two attacks are the latest in a series of assaults on Egypt’s Christian minority, which has been repeatedly targeted by Islamic extremists. It comes just weeks before Pope Francis is due to visit the Arab world’s most populous country.
Pope Francis decried the first bombing, expressing “deep condolences to my brother, Pope Tawadros II, the Coptic church and all of the dear Egyptian nation.” Word of the bombing came as Francis himself was marking Palm Sunday in St. Peter’s Square.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/at-least-6-said-killed-in-second-egyptian-church-blast/
Grand Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, head of Egypt’s Al-Azhar — the leading center of learning in Sunni Islam — likewise condemned the attack, calling it a “despicable terrorist bombing that targeted the lives of innocents.”
The attack adds to fears that Islamic extremists who have long been battling security forces in the Sinai Peninsula may shift their focus to civilians.
Egypt’s Copts are one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East, accounting for around 10 percent of Egypt’s 92 million people, and have long complained of discrimination.
The Copts were largely supportive of the military overthrow of president Mohammed Morsi, a senior Muslim Brotherhood figure, and incurred the wrath of many Islamists, who attacked churches and other Christian institutions after his ouster.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Egyptian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
>>130543
This happened today not 2013 over 41 people killed in churches in Egypt.
>>130546
I was just try to provide background.
You have a problem with that?
>>130547
No just was not sure what your point was as you did not quote anything.
>>130548
The article mentions the 2013 military coup.
I was just try to provide background.
What point were you trying to make when you wrote:
>This happened today not 2013
>>130552
I thought that you might have thought this was old news and you misread the op.
>>130546
>41 people killed
new source?
>>130555
Look at the op link up to 43 now
>>130556
Orwell was right to worry.
Who cares, just a bunch of filthy kuffars. Only muslims are important, not those evil christians.