More than 40 dead in two church bombings north of Egypt’s capital

CAIRO–More than 40 people are dead after two bombs ripped through crowds of people in Alexandria and Tanta in Egypt, just north of Cairo.

In the first blast, at least 26 people were killed and 71 wounded when a bomb went off in a church north of Cairo that was packed with Palm Sunday worshippers.

Egypt’s Health Ministry says an explosion at a church in the coastal city of Alexandria has killed 13 people, and wounded at least 35 others. The ministry said the explosion went off at Saint Mark’s Church in Alexandria, where Pope Tawadros II had earlier celebrated Palm Sunday.

The attacks were the latest in a series of assaults on Egypt’s Christian minority, which makes up around 10 per cent of the population and has been repeatedly targeted by Islamic extremists. It comes just weeks before Pope Francis is due to visit Egypt.

CBC TV showed footage from inside the church, where a large number of people gathered around what appeared to be lifeless, bloody bodies covered with papers. Deputy Health Minister Mohammed Sharshar confirmed the toll.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility.

Grand Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, head of Egypt’s Al-Azhar – the leading centre of learning in Sunni Islam – condemned the attack, calling it a “despicable terrorist bombing that targeted the lives of innocents.”

A local Islamic State affiliate claimed a suicide bombing at a church in Cairo in December that killed around 30 people, mostly women, as well as a string of killings in the restive Sinai Peninsula that caused hundreds of Christians to flee to safer areas of the country. The group has threatened further attacks.

A militant group called Liwa al-Thawra claimed responsibility for an April 1 bomb attack targeting a police training centre in Tanta, which wounded 16 people. The group, believed to be linked to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, has mainly targeted security forces and distanced itself from attacks on Christians.

Egypt has struggled to combat a wave of Islamic militancy since the 2013 military overthrow of an elected Islamist president.

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