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Al-Ahed Telegram

State of Emergency Declared after Egypt Church Bombings

State of Emergency Declared after Egypt Church Bombings
folder_openEgypt access_time6 years ago
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Local Editor

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said a three-month state of emergency would be imposed after two deadly bombings hit Coptic churches Sunday, killing at least 44 people in an assault claimed by Daesh [the Arabic acronym for the Takfiri ‘ISIS/ISIL' group].

State of Emergency Declared after Egypt Church Bombings

"A series of steps will be taken, most importantly, the announcement of a state of emergency for three months after legal and constitution steps are taken," Sisi said in a speech aired on state television.

The blasts came at the start of Holy Week leading up to Easter, and just weeks before Pope Francis is due to visit the Arab world's most populous country, which has been beset by extremist violence against its Christian minority.

In the first attack, a bomb went off inside St. George's Church in the Nile Delta city of Tanta, killing at least 27 people and wounding 78, officials said.

A few hours later, a suicide bomber rushed toward St. Mark's Cathedral in the coastal city of Alexandria, killing at least 16 people and wounding 41, the Interior Ministry said.

CCTV images broadcast on Egyptian channels showed a man in a blue pullover approach the main gate to St. Mark's but being turned away and directed toward a metal detector. The man then passes a female police officer chatting to another woman, and enters a metal detector before an explosion engulfs the area.

Pope Tawadros II had held Palm Sunday services at the cathedral, but his aides said he had escaped unharmed. The timing of the attack raised the question of whether the bomber had sought to assassinate the pope, leader of one of the world's oldest Christian communities.

Daesh claimed the attacks via its Amaq news agency, after having recently warned that it would step up violence against Egypt's Christians.

CBC TV showed footage from inside the church in Tanta, where people gathered around what appeared to be lifeless, bloody bodies covered with papers.

Earlier in December, a Daesh affiliate claimed a suicide bombing at a Cairo church that killed about 30 people, mostly women, as well as a string of killings in the northern Sinai that caused hundreds of Christians to flee to safer areas of the country. The terrorists recently released a video vowing to step up attacks against Christians.

The Sinai-based Daesh affiliate has mainly attacked police and soldiers, but has also claimed bombings that killed civilians, including the downing of a Russian passenger jetliner in the Sinai in 2015, which killed all 224 people aboard and devastated Egypt's tourism industry.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

 

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