At least 25 killed in explosion inside church attached to Cairo's Coptic cathedral

At least 25 killed in explosion inside church attached to Cairo’s Coptic
cathedral
Ahram Online , Sunday 11 Dec 2016
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/251801/Egypt/Politics-/UPDATE–At-least–killed-in-explosion-inside-churc.aspx

At least 25 people were killed and 49 injured after an explosion inside a
church attached to the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo’s Abbassyia district early
Sunday morning, Minister of Health Ahmed Emad said.

The Coptic Church’s spokesman Rev Paul Halim told Al-Ahram Arabic news
website that the explosion took place in the small church of St Peter and St
Paul (El-Botroseya), attached to the Coptic Cathedral.

Security forces are screening the area and have blocked the main roads
surrounding the cathedral.

Hundreds of Muslim and Coptic protesters gathered at the cathedral, chanting
against the attack on the church in a show of both anger and unity.

A number of protesters attempted to remove the cordons around the cathedral,
which led to minor skirmishes with security forces.

Hospitals where the injured are being treated, including Dar El-Shefaa and
Ain Shams University Hospital, have called for blood donations, while calls
on social media for people to donate have gone viral.

A security source told the Middle East News Agency (MENA) that the explosion
was caused by a 12 kilogramme TNT bomb.

Member of the Coptic Papal residence Samuel Metias told MENA that the
explosion occurred in the ladies section of the St Peter and St Paul church.

The St Mark Cathedral was left undamaged.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing so far. Islamist groups
are waging an insurgency against the Egyptian state in North Sinai and
sporadic attacks have occurred in Cairo and other governorates since
Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was toppled in mid 2013.

Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi that the country will observe three
days of mourning following the explosion.

“More united”

“Terrorism targets the country’s and Copts and Muslims… Egypt will only be
made stronger and more united in such circumstances,” President Sisi said in
a statement.

He vowed to hold accountable the assailants and put on trial all who have
“incited, facilitated or participated” in the terrorist attack.

The president described the Sunday church attack – as well as the Friday
blast in Giza that left six policemen dead – as part of “a war against the
great Egyptian people.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his “shock and grief,”
particularly given the high number of women and children among the victims,
Russian media said.

Al-Azhar, the world’s oldest seat of Sunni Islamic learning, condemned the
“terrorist attack that occurred this morning in the Saint Mark Cathedral in
Abbasiya, which led to killings and injuries.”

“Targeting houses of worship and the killing of the innocents are criminal
acts that violate Islamic principles,” Al-Azhar said in a statement.

Al-Azhar expressed full solidarity with the Egyptian Church and Egyptian
Copts in the face of “terrorism.”

The statement also expressed condolences to Egypt’s Coptic Pope Tawadros II,
to the families of the victims, and to all the Egyptian people, wishing a
speedy recovery of the injured.

A church source told Al-Ahram that Pope Tawadros II has cut short his visit
to Greece, and is on his way back to Cairo “to directly go to the location
of the explosion.”

This is the third explosion this week. On Friday, an explosion killed six
policemen and injured three others in Giza’s Haram district and another
occurred in Kafr El-Sheikh international road, killing one civilian and
injuring three policemen.

There have been several minor attacks on churches following the 2013
dispersal of the Rabaa Al-Adawyia sit-in protesting the overthrow of Morsi,
who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood.

The worst attack against Copts in Egypt was in 2011 when 23 people were
killed in an explosion at the Two Saints Church in Alexandria.

Source: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=71857