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Egypt: bomb blast at Cairo Coptic cathedral kills at least 25 people
Egypt: three days of mourning declared after 25 killed in Cairo bomb
(about 4 hours later)
A bomb blast at Egypt’s main Coptic Christian cathedral has killed at least 25 people, state media said.
Egypt has declared three days of mourning on Sunday after a bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt’s main Coptic Christian cathedral killed 25 people and wounded another 49.
The attack on the Cairo church, at about 10am (0800 GMT) on Sunday, was one of the deadliest against the country’s Christian minority in recent memory.
Egypt’s state-run news agency Mena reported that 12 kilos of TNT explosives were used in the attack. The majority of those killed were women and children.
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, the 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 the attack.
There were conflicting reports as to the nature of the attack. Egypt’s official Mena news agency said an assailant threw 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.
In a statement, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi encouraged Muslims and Coptic Christians to band together “to emerge victorious in the war against terrorism, which is the battle of all Egyptians”. He stressed that the government would be harsh in its response to the attack, one of the deadliest carried out against the religious minority in recent years.
Amal Louka, who works with a service for disabled people at the cathedral, said she was in a meeting in an adjacent church when she heard the explosion.
Those who pray regularly at St Mark’s Cathedral described a system of security within the compound that appeared strong, but could be lax. “People who commit such acts do so with impunity,” said one man, declining to be named as he stood close to the blast site and held up a small wooden cross. “There are normally police on both entrances to the cathedral and to the chapel.” Asked whether everyone who enters the cathedral compound is searched, he answered: “Sometimes yes, sometimes no”.
“We heard a very loud noise – it felt as if the church was falling down,” she said. “When we got to the scene, there was a lot of blood and severed body parts as well as many corpses on the floor. The explosion had hit the women’s area of the church, so most of the casualties were women.”
As the death toll rose and nearby hospitals called for blood donations, public grief and anger were visible in the streets. Hundreds of people crowded outside the cathedral, including a large crowd of young men who made their complaints against conservative Muslim groups, Egypt’s ministry of the interior and even the president clear. “As long as any Egyptian blood is cheap, down with any president,” they chanted.
Cathedral worker Attiya Mahrous, who rushed to the chapel after he heard the blast, said: “I found bodies, many of them women, lying on the pews. It was a horrible scene. His clothes and hands were stained with blood and his hair matted with dust.
“You ask for our emotions? Look in there,” said one man, pointing at the angry crowd. “What do you expect us to feel? People were killed while they were praying. They didn’t even die in their homes,” he said.
An Associated Press reporter saw bloodstained pews and shards of glass scattered across the chapel’s floor shortly after the blast, as people wailed and cried outside the chapel. Ambulances lined up outside the church in the capital’s Abbasiya district to evacuate the dead and wounded.
The Egyptian government has staked its mandate on the fight against Islamist groups as well as the Sinai chapter of Islamic State. Protecting the minority Christian population is the cornerstone of this pledge. But Sunday’s attack caused some to question whether the government is living up to its promise to provide security to all Egyptians.
Dr Maha Halim gathered with hundreds of others to express their grief at the entrance to the cathedral in the hours after the bombing. “They timed [the attack] to the prayers, to kill as many people as possible,” she said. “There is obviously a feeling of grief, but this will not shake Egypt.”
“The government doesn’t protect us. They can’t protect us against terrorism in general,” said one man, who also wished to remain anonymous.
A crowd of young men began chanting against Salafis, a sect of extremely conservative Muslims. The chants quickly turned political, amid fierce arguments between some members of the crowd as to who might be responsible for the attack. “As long as any Egyptian blood is cheap, down with any president,” they chanted.
“Lots of Christians supported the current regime out of fear of being targeted by Islamist extremists,” said Mina Thabet, an expert on religious minorities at the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. “Many Christians supported Sisi as he represented himself as a protector of Christians against extreme groups. Today’s event may affect their support.”
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.
Other members of the Coptic community were unshaken in their support for Egypt’s government.
They have faced further attacks at the hands of Islamist extremists since the 2013 military overthrow of the democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi from the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement. Morsi’s supporters accused Christians of supporting his ousting, which came after millions of protesters took to the streets demanding his resignation.
“This is an injury to all Egyptians,” said Father Boules Haliem, spokesman for the Coptic Church of Egypt. “This is about more than the Coptic community, this is an attack on all Egyptians.”
On 14 August 2013, mobs attacks dozens of churches across the country after police killed hundreds of pro-Morsi protesters in Cairo.
Egypt has witnessed a rise in attacks by Islamist groups including those affiliated to Isis since the overthrow of former Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in 2013. An attack close to a mosque in Giza on Friday killed six security officials, and was later claimed by a group named “Hasm”, or “Decisiveness.” The group, which the Egyptian government believes is a violent offshoot from the deposed Muslim Brotherhood group, issued a statement condemning Sunday’s attack via the encrypted messenger service Telegram, calling it an example of “dirty hands extending to churches to kill women and children”.
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.
