At least 44 people have been killed and many more injured in suicide bomb attacks on two Coptic churches during Palm Sunday services in northern Egypt, just weeks before Pope Francis scheduled visit to the Muslim country.
In the first attack, a bomber wearing a suicide vest packed with explosives detonated the device near the altar in St George’s Church in Tanta, 60 miles north of Cairo, killing at least 25. "There was blood all over the floor and body parts scattered," a woman who was inside the church at the time of the attack told Reuters news agency.
The second attack, carried out just a few hours later by a suicide bomber in Alexandria, hit the historic seat of the Coptic Pope, killing 11, including three police officers, and injuring 35. Officials said that Pope Tawadros II had been leading Mass inside St Mark’s cathedral at the time of the attack but was not harmed. "These acts will not harm the unity and cohesion of the people," he was later quoted as saying by state media. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Sunday (9 April) for the attacks and warned of more to come.
"Crusaders and their apostate allies should know the bill between us and them is very big and they will pay it with rivers of blood from their children, God willing. Wait for us, for we will wait for you," the group said in a statement released on its Aamaq news agency.
A Sinai-based affiliate of the group has previously released a video calling on its followers to kill Egyptian Christians. Pope Francis condemned the attacks which coincided with his Palm Sunday homily.
“May the Lord convert the hearts of those who sow fear, violence and terror,” he said after celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Square, reading from a hastily written note handed to him, to which he added: “And that of those who produce and sell weapons.”
He also expressed his closeness to the families of the victims, Coptic Pope Tawardos II and the “dear Egyptian church”. Pope Francis will visit Egypt on 28-29 April. He is scheduled to visit Al-Azhar Mosque and University and to visit Pope Tawadros II.
“We pray for our Coptic Orthodox sisters and brothers who continue to be resilient in the face of ongoing and escalating attacks,” His Grace Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom said in a statement released after the attack. “As we celebrate Palm Sunday today and Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, we now also mark the entry of those who have passed today into the heavenly Jerusalem,” continued the statement.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared a three-month state of emergency following the attacks. In a rare move, he also deployed troops to assist police in protecting “vital and important infrastructure”.
"The attack...will only harden the determination (of the Egyptian people) to move forward on their trajectory to realise security, stability and comprehensive development," Sisi said in a statement.
Islamic State's affiliate group in Egypt has stepped up attacks and threats against Christians, who comprise about 10 per cent of Egypt's 90 million people and are the biggest Christian minority in the Middle East. In February, scores of Christian families and students fled Egypt's North Sinai province after a spate of targeted killings.
Those attacks followed one of the deadliest on Egypt's Christian minority, when a suicide bomber hit its largest Coptic cathedral, killing at least 25 people in December last year. Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack.
PICTURE - St George's church in Tanta following the bomb blast in which 27 people were killed and 79 injured
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