Simon Cox Blog: Cairo Church Attack Kills 25 at Center of Egyptian Christianity

Sunday, 11 December 2016

Cairo Church Attack Kills 25 at Center of Egyptian Christianity

Bombing on Muhammad's birthday is worst terrorist targeting of Copts since 2011.

At least 25 people were killed and 49 injured when a bomb exploded around 10 a.m. this morning during a worship service at the spiritual center of Christianity in Egypt.

It is the worst terrorist attack on Copts since the New Year’s bombing of a church in Alexandria in 2011 that killed 23 people.

A worship service of mostly women was targeted in the St. Peter and St. Paul church, adjacent to the St. Mark’s Cathedral and papal residence of Pope Tawadros II, the leader of the Coptic Orthodox community in Egypt and worldwide.

Tawadros was traveling in Greece at the time of the attack. He will cut short his visit and lead funeral prayers tomorrow in the Nasr City district of Cairo.

So far, there has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.

“This is an unbelievable act against Egypt first and Christians second,” Andrea Zaki, president of the Protestant Churches of Egypt, told Christianity Today.

“They wanted to destroy the innocent lives of people praying, at a time we are facing great economic challenges.

“Now they want to hit our unity, but this is a time of solidarity as we stand with the Orthodox Church and our country.”

Zaki plans to attend funeral prayers, and believes President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi may do the same.

Sisi immediately declared three days of national mourning.

“Terrorism targets the country's Copts and Muslims,” he said in a statement carried by Ahram Online. “Egypt will only be made stronger and more united in such circumstances.”

Women may have been the majority of victims because many churches divide the sanctuary by gender, with women on the left. The New York Times also conveyed unconfirmed reports a woman may have carried the bomb in a ...