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Bomb Hits Egypt Church at New Year's Mass, 21 Dead
Source: AP/FOX News
A powerful bomb, possibly from a homicide attacker, exploded in front of a
Coptic Christian church as a crowd of worshippers emerged from a New Years Mass
early Saturday, killing at least 21 people and wounding nearly 80 in an attack
that raised suspicions of an Al Qaeda role.
The attack came in the wake of repeated threats by Al Qaeda militants in
Iraq to attack Egypt's Christians. A direct
Al Qaeda hand in the bombing would be a dramatic development, as Egypt's
government has long denied that the terror network has a significant presence in
the country.
Al Qaeda in Iraq has already been waging a campaign of violence against
Christians in that country.
Police initially said the blast came from an explosives-packed car parked
outside the Saints Church in the Mediterranean port city. But the Interior
Ministry later said it was more likely from a bomber who blew himself up among
the crowd.
Both tactics are hallmarks of Al Qaeda and have been rarely used in
Egypt, where the government crushed an insurgency by Islamic militants in
the 1990s. Though the government of President Hosni Mubarak denies an Al Qaeda
presence, Egypt does have a rising movement of Islamic hard-liners who, while
they do not advocate violence, adhere to an ideology similar in other ways to Al
Qaeda. There have been fears they could be further radicalized amid growing
sectarian tensions between Egypt's Muslim majority and Christian minority.
Nearly 1,000 Christians were attending the New Year's Mass at the Saints Church,
said Father Mena Adel, a priest at the church. The service had just ended, and
some worshippers were leaving the building when the bomb went off about a half
hour after midnight, he said...
Blood splattered the facade of the church, as well as a mosque directly across
the street. Bodies of many of the dead were collected from the street and kept
inside the church overnight before they were taken away Saturday by ambulances
for burial.
Some Christians carried white sheets with the sign of the cross emblazoned on
them with what appeared to be the blood of the victims.
Health Ministry official Osama Abdel-Moneim said the death toll stood at 21,
with 79 wounded. It was not immediately known if all the victims were
Christians. It was the deadliest violence involving Christians in Egypt since at
least 20 people, mostly Christians, were killed in sectarian clashes in a
southern town in 1999. |
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