Sunday 9 April 2017

At least 28 killed in two explosions targeting Christians on Palm Sunday in Egypt



Video footage and images reportedly taken from inside the church in Tanta show a large number of people gathered around what appear to be lifeless, bloody bodies covered with papers.

At least 28 people have been killed in an explosion inside a church in the Egyptian Nile delta city of Tanta, local media reported, as state television said another explosion hit near a church in Alexandria.
The first attack occurred in the Coptic church of Mar Girgis, also known as St George, which was packed with worshippers marking Palm Sunday, a Christian feast commemorating the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility and the cause of the blast was not yet known.
Egypt's state television reported that at least 50 people were wounded.
Several hours after the bombing in Tanta, another explosion hit in front of Saint Mark's church in Alexandria, killing at least two people, according to state media. 
Media reports said another 21 people were wounded in the attack, which state TV said was a suicide bombing.
The bombings were the latest in a series of assaults on Egypt's Christian minority, who make up about 10 percent of the population and have been repeatedly targeted by armed groups.
They also come just weeks before Pope Francis is due to visit Egypt.
CBC TV showed footage from inside the church in Tanta, with a large number of people gathered around what appeared to be lifeless, bloody bodies covered with papers.
A bombing at Cairo's largest Coptic cathedral killed at least 25 people and wounded 49 in December, many of them women and children, in the deadliest attack on Egypt's Christian minority in years. 

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