Today's Terrorist Attack On Christians Brutally Illustrated

Robert Gehl reports dozens of Coptic Christians have been killed in two bomb blasts at churches in Egypt as the faithful were celebrating Palm Sunday.

The first blast ripped through a service at a Christian church in the northern Egypt city of Tanta, killing 25 people and wounding 60.

The second explosion occurred shortly after, killing six worshippers and injuring 33 others in Alexandria.

The explosive device in Tanta was hidden under the church pews and detonated in the main prayer hall. The Alexandria attack was a suicide bombing, CNN reports. Egyptian state media also reports that the head of Egypt’s Coptic Church Pope Tawadros II was inside the Church when the blast happened.

Palm Sunday marks the start of Holy Week before Easter.

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

No one immediately claimed the attack.

Pope Francis decried the bombing, expressing “deep condolences to my brother, Pope Tawadros II, the Coptic church and all of the dear Egyptian nation.” Word of the bombing came as Francis himself was marking Palm Sunday in St. Peter’s Square.

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

The attack adds to fears that Islamic extremists who have long been battling security forces in the Sinai Peninsula may shift their focus to civilians.

An Islamic State affiliate claimed a suicide bombing at a Cairo church in December that killed around 30 people, mostly women, as well as a string of killings in the restive northern Sinai that caused hundreds of Christians to flee to safer areas of the country.

The group recently released a video vowing to step up attacks against Christians, who it describes as “infidels” empowering the West against Muslims.

A militant group called Liwa al-Thawra claimed responsibility for an April 1 bomb attack targeting a police training center 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.

The Sinai-based IS affiliate has mainly attacked police and soldiers, but has also claimed bombings that killed civilians, including the downing of a Russian passenger plane over the Sinai in 2015, which killed all 224 people on board and devastated Egypt’s tourism industry.

Egypt’s Copts are one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East, accounting for around 10 percent of Egypt’s 92 million people and have long complained of discrimination.

Here is raw footage of one of the bomb blast. Warning: It is graphic.

Today's Terrorist Attack On Christians Brutally Illustrated [CARTOON]

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