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Egypt: bomb blast at Cairo Coptic cathedral Egypt: bomb blast at Cairo Coptic cathedral kills at least 25 people
(35 minutes later)
A bomb blast at Egypt’s main Coptic Christian cathedral has killed 22 people and wounded 35, according to state television, in the second deadly attack to hit the capital in two days. A bomb blast at Egypt’s main Coptic Christian cathedral has killed at least 25 people, state media said.
Egypt’s official Mena news agency said an assailant threw a bomb into a chapel close to the outer wall of St Mark’s Cathedral, seat of Egypt’s Orthodox Christian church and home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II. The attack on the Cairo church, which occurred at approximately 10am (0800 GMT) on Sunday morning, was one of the deadliest against Egypt’s beleaguered Christian minority in recent memory.
On Friday, six police officers were killed in a bomb attack in Cairo claimed by a group suspected by authorities of links to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Another 35 people were injured, Egyptian state TV reported, when the bomb exploded in a chapel close to the outer wall of St Mark’s Cathedral, seat of Egypt’s Orthodox Christian church and home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday’s attack, which bore the hallmarks of Islamist militants fighting the government of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. There were conflicting reports as to the nature of the attack. Egypt’s official Mena news agency said an assailant lobbed a bomb into a chapel close to the outer wall of the cathedral, but some witnesses suggested an explosive device had been planted inside the building.
As defence minister, Sisi led the July 2013 ousting of Mohamed Morsi, an elected Islamist president who has links to the Brotherhood. “I found bodies, many of them women, lying on the pews. It was a horrible scene,” said cathedral worker Attiya Mahrous, who rushed to the chapel after he heard the blast. His clothes and hands were stained with blood and his hair matted with dust.An Associated Press reporter witnessed bloodstained pews and shards of glass scattered across the chapel’s floor shortly after the blast, as men and women wailed and cried outside the chapel. Ambulances lined up outside the church in the capital’s Abbasiya district to evacuate the dead and wounded.
Islamist militants launched a wave of attacks on security forces and Christians in response, as the government waged a sweeping crackdown on Morsi’s supporters and other activists. A crowd gathered outside the church chanting: “Tell the sheikh, tell the priest, Egyptians’ blood is not cheap.” Copts, who make up about 10% of Egypt’s population of 90 million, faced persecution and discrimination during the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011. On New Year’s Day in 2011, shortly before the beginning of the uprising against Mubarak, a suicide bomber killed 21 worshippers outside a church in the coastal city of Alexandria.
More details soon … They have faced further attacks at the hands of Islamist extremists since the 2013 military overthrow of democratically-elected president Mohamed Morsi, who hailed from the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement. Morsi’s supporters accused Christians of supporting his ouster, which came after millions of protesters took to the streets demanding his resignation.
On 14 August 2013, mobs attacks dozens of churches across the country after police killed hundreds of pro-Morsi protesters in Cairo.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday’s attack.
Bishop Anba Angaelos, the general bishop of the Coptic Orthodox church in the UK, said the news of the bombing in Egypt had been received with “great sadness”.
“Our prayers are with those whose lives have been so senselessly ended, those who have been injured, and every family and community affected,” he said. “We also pray for every Coptic parish and community across Egypt as they fill their churches this morning, as well as for the broader Egyptian society that fall victim to similar inhumane attacks.”
Egypt’s Copts make up the largest Christian community in the Middle East. The church is said to have been established by St Mark in approximately AD42 and survived the rise of Islam in the region from the seventh century.
Copts have often complained of discrimination against them from Egypt’s Muslim majority, particularly over acquiring permits for the construction or maintenance of churches. Violence between Muslim and Christian communities has repeatedly broken out in poor and rural areas, often triggered by land disputes.
Although not immune from violence under Mubarak, he was seen as offering protection from Islamists.