Blast hits near Christian cathedral in Cairo killing 25 with 35 wounded: Update, Daesh claims responsibilty

RT
Sun, 11 Dec 2016 14:00 UTC

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Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, Cairo

At least 25 people have been killed, and 35 others injured in an explosion near Cairo's Coptic Christian Cathedral, AP reports citing Egyptian state TV. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast yet.

The bomb was reportedly placed in a female handbag in a seat in the back of the church, and the explosion hit the section where female worshipers mainly stood, which is why the majority of the victims are women, Egyptian reporter for The Washington Post, Heba Farouk Mahfouz, posted on Twitter.

"I found bodies, many of them women, lying on the pews. It was a horrible scene," said cathedral worker Attiya Mahrous, as cited by AP.

The latest attack comes two days after two roadside bombs, one in Cairo and one to the north of the capital, left six police officers dead and six others injured.

The bombing is the latest attack against the Christian population in Egypt - 10 percent of the country's 90 million people.

In May, a mob of Muslims stripped naked and beat an elderly woman, and then paraded her through the streets of an Egyptian village, following rumors of a Christian man having an affair with a Muslim woman.

Over the past years, criminal gangs targeted well-off Christian families, kidnapping their children for ransom. Muslim men in Egypt are also known to have kidnapped young girls, forcefully converting them, and hiding them until they become adults.

Comment: Update: Daesh Claims Responsibility for Attack on Cairo's Coptic Cathedral

Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility for an attack on Cairo Coptic Church Complex that killed dozens of people, Al Arabiya TV channel reported on Tuesday.

On Monday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi said that the deadly attack in a Coptic cathedral complex in Cairo was staged by a 22-year-old suicide bomber, wearing a suicide vest. The president said four people — three men and a woman — had been detained in connection with the attack, while police were searching for two more suspects.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Egyptian Ministry of Interior said it suspected members of the Muslim Brotherhood who fled to Qatar of involvement in the terror attack.