Two explosions at Coptic churches in Egypt on Sunday have left at leat 23 people dead. At least 21 people were killed in an explosion at a Coptic church in Tanta, an Egyptian city located 130 kilometres from the capital, Cairo. Hours later, an explosion at St Mark Coptic Cathedral in Alexandria claimed two lives and injured several others, while Coptic Pope Tawadros II was inside it.

Investigators looking into the Tanta incident have not yet announced what caused the blast or who was behind it. Local channels claimed dozens, possibly more than 50, were injured. An official toll has not been announced yet.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi said the injured are to be treated at military hospitals, local news channels reported. Principal Governor Ahmad Deif told the Al Arabiya news channel that either a bomb went of or a suicide attackers was involved. Security forces later searched the church for other explosive devices, but found none.

The blast at the Mar Girgis Coptic Church took place while it was full of people observing Palm Sunday, an especially holy day for the community. Palm Sunday is a feast that takes place seven days before Easter and marks the day Jesus entered Jerusalem.

Coptic Christians make up about 10% of Egypt’s population, and have often faced attacks by armed groups, in particular the Islamic State outfit, in the past. In December, at least 25 people were killed and another 35 wounded after a bomb exploded in Egypt’s main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo. The blast had taken place near the outer wall of St Mark’s Cathedral, which is the seat of the country’s Orthodox Christian Church and its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II. The Islamic State group had claimed responsibility for it.

Pope Francis is expected to visit Egypt later this year. </s> (CNN) — Bombs targeted two Coptic churches in Egypt as the Christian faithful observed Palm Sunday, one of the most important days on the religion's calendar.

A powerful blast rippled through a Palm Sunday service at a Coptic Christian church in the northern Egypian city of Tanta, killing 25 people and wounding 60 others, state TV reported. The explosive device at St. George's Coptic church in Tanta was planted under a seat in the church, where it detonated in the main prayer hall, it said.

At least 11 people were killed and 35 others wounded in a suicide bomb attack outside Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria, according to two state-news outlets. Egyptian state media also reports that the head of Egypt's Coptic Church Pope Tawadros II was inside the Church when the blast happened. He was not injured.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility.

Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter, and marks the start of Holy Week for Christians.

Nile and Masriya TV, Egyptian state outlets, aired black banners in the upper left of its newscasts to signify mourning for the victims of both explosions.

In Tanta, news footage shows people gathered at the church, singing hymns. The video then quickly switches to bars as harrowing screams and cries echo in the background.

"Everything is destroyed inside the church" and blood can be seen on marble pillars, said Peter Kamel, who saw the aftermath of the carnage.

It appeared the explosive device was placed near the altar, he said. Priests and the church choir were among the casualties.

Social media video showed crowds gathered outside the church shortly after the attack.

In Alexandria, the Interior Ministry said in a statement that police assigned to St. Mark's stopped a terrorist with an explosive belt from breaking into the church. Along with civilians, a policeman, a policewoman and other police staff were killed.

Egyptian blogger Maged Butter told CNN he saw five or six ambulances and blood stains 100 meters away from the site of the explosion -- near the church gate.

He said women were crying and looking for their loved ones and were yelling at police for not protecting them. Police faced difficulty as crowds gathered.

"Every now and then, I see a person crying -- I think they are Christian -- and they keep saying: 'have you seen my family? Have you seen my family?' " Butter said.

Alexandria sits on the Mediterranean and has a large Christian population. Downtown is usually busy but was relatively quiet on Sunday because of the holiday.

"This is usually a very busy area, but thank God it is a Sunday, and many shops are closed," he said.

While it's unclear who attacked the churches, Copts face persecution and discrimination that has spiked since the toppling of Hosni Mubarak's regime in 2011.

Dozens have been killed in sectarian clashes. In December, an attack at a Coptic church in Cairo killed 25 people.

"Coptic churches and homes have been set on fire, members of the Coptic minority have been physically attacked, and their property has been looted," rights group Amnesty International reported in March.

Coptic Christians make up about 10% of Egypt's population of 91 million. They base their theology on the teachings of the Apostle Mark, who introduced Christianity to Egypt.

Tanta is roughly 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Cairo, in the Nile delta.

The attack comes days after President Donald Trump welcomed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to Washington and stressed his support for Cairo. Among the topics of mutual concern were terrorism and terror group ISIS.

El-Sisi met Saturday with a US congressional delegation led by US Rep. Darrell Issa, the Egyptian government said.

The meeting addressed Egypt's counterterrorism efforts and adopting a strategy to fight terror and encourage religious tolerance and acceptance of others.

The Tanta attack drew outrage from religious leaders across the globe.

Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Cairo this month, where he will meet with various religious leaders, including the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

He expressed his grief following the church attack.

"To my dear brother his Holiness Pope Tawadros II, to the Coptic church and to all of the dear country Egypt, I express my deep condolences, I prayed for the dead and the wounded, I am close to the families and to the entire community. God convert the hearts of the people who spread terror, violence and dead, and also the heart of who produces and traffic weapons," the Pope said.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, serving the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion, called the attacks "evil" and urged people to pray for the victims.

CNN's Sarah Sirgany, Tamara Qiblawi, Bijan Hosseini and Ian Lee contributed to this report </s> At least 13 people have been killed and 25 wounded in a bombing of a church north of Cairo, an Egyptian official said.

The attack took place on the Coptic Christian Palm Sunday, when the church in the Nile Delta town of Tanta was packed with worshippers, the reported.

The state-run MENA news agency said 35 were wounded in the attack.

CBC showed footage from inside the church, where a large number of people gathered around what appeared to be lifeless, bloody bodies covered with papers.

Christians make up around 10 percent of Egypt's population and have repeatedly been targeted by Islamic extremists. </s> It was a bloody Palm Sunday for Egypt’s Coptic Christians as 25 of them were bombed to death in two churches in the Egyptian cities of Tanta and Alexandria.About 50 people were reportedly injured, state television said on Sunday.There was no immediate claim of responsibility.The first explosive was planted under a seat at St. George (Mar Girgis) Coptic church, where it detonated in the main prayer hall.A second explosion went off outside St Mark’s Coptic Church in Alexandria, killing at least two people.Pope Tawdros II, head of the Coptic Church, had been attending mass inside.The earlier blast targeted St George’s Coptic church in the city of Tanta, about 130km south-east.Worshippers at a Coptic Church.The attack came just one week before Coptic Easter and the same month as Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Egypt.“Terrorism hits Egypt again, this time on Palm Sunday. Another obnoxious but failed attempt against all Egyptians,” the foreign affairs ministry tweeted.Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter, and marks the start of Holy Week for Christians.CNN reported that Social media video showed crowds gathered outside the church shortly after the attack.Copts face persecution and discrimination that has spiked since the toppling of Hosni Mubarak’s regime in 2011.Dozens have been killed in sectarian clashes.In December, an attack at a Coptic church in Cairo killed 25 people.“Coptic churches and homes have been set on fire, members of the Coptic minority have been physically attacked, and their property has been looted,” rights group Amnesty International reported in March. </s> At least 27 people have been killed in an explosion inside a church in the Egyptian Nile Delta city of Tanta, state media reported, as another blast killed 16 in front of a church in the coastal city of Alexandria.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group on Sunday claimed responsibility for both attacks, in a statement via its Amaq website. It said they were carried out by two of its fighters wearing suicide vests.

Following the blasts, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ordered troops be deployed across the country to help secure "vital facilities" and said a three-month state of emergency would be imposed.

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.

Egypt's state television reported that at least 71 people were wounded in the attack.

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Several hours after the bombing in Tanta, another explosion hit in front of Saint Mark's church in Alexandria, where Coptic Pope Tawadros II was leading a service.

Egypt's state media said at least 16 people, including seven police officers, were killed in the suicide bomb attack.

Some on social media praised at least two police officers who they say stopped the bomber from entering the church. They were killed in the blast.

Witnesses in Tanta described a bloody and chaotic scene.

"Lots of bodies were torn apart and scattered on the floor," said one man who was standing on the church's altar when the bomb exploded.

READ MORE: Egypt's Coptic Christians flee Sinai after killings

Another witness said she saw flames flaring up to the church ceiling.

"There was thick smoke, I couldn't see anyone," she said. "We heard voices telling us to leave quickly. People were pushing so much that the gate bent."

Samer Shehata, associate professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera the attacks show a "tremendous security lapse" by Egyptian authorities.

"In the last few months, there has been an increased number of attacks on Egyptian Copts, individually, as well as on churches," Shehata said, adding that the church in Tanta received a threat 10 days ago.

"I do think this represents a lack of seriousness on the part of the state in really securing the Coptic community and places that could potentially be attacked."

Timothy Kaldas, non-resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said the attacks were designed to create religious strife.

"It is alarming to see a specific religious group being targeted, which is going to rattle the Coptic community and many Egyptians in general," Kaldas told Al Jazeera.

Copts repeatedly targeted

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. </s> A bomb blast at a church north of Cairo killed at least 22 people and wounded dozens who had gathered for Palm Sunday mass, officials said, in the latest apparent attack on Egypt’s Coptic Christians.

Some 71 people were wounded in the blast, which struck at a Coptic Church in the Nile Delta City of Tanta, 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of Cairo, according to a health ministry toll.

Images broadcast by private television stations showed bloodstains smearing the whitewashed walls of the church next to shredded wooden benches.

Palm Sunday is one of the holiest days of the Christian calendar, marking the triumphant entrance of Jesus to Jerusalem.

“The explosion took place in the front rows, near the altar, during the mass,” General Tarek Atiya, the deputy to Egypt’s interior minister in charge of relations with the media, told AFP.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday’s blast.

Copts, who make up about one tenth of Egypt’s population of more than 92 million and who celebrate Easter next weekend, have been targeted by several attacks in recent months.

Pope Francis is due to visit Cairo on April 28-29 to show solidarity with Egypt’s Christian community.

Jihadists and Islamists accuse Copts of supporting the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, which ushered in a deadly crackdown on his supporters.

In December, a suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed 29 worshippers during Sunday mass in Cairo.

The bombing of the church within a compound that also holds the seat of the Coptic papacy was the deadliest attack against the minority in recent memory.

A spate of jihadist-linked attacks in Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula, including the murder of a Copt in the city of El Arish whose house was also burned, have led some Coptic families to flee their homes.

About 250 Christians took refuge in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya after IS released a video in February calling for attacks on the religious minority.

“Terrorism hits Egypt again, this time on Palm Sunday,” he tweeted.

The Cairo-based Al-Azhar, an influential Sunni Muslim authority, said Sunday’s bombing aimed to “destabilise security and… the unity of Egyptians”.

Egypt’s Copts have endured successive attacks since Morsi’s ouster in July 2013.

More than 40 churches were attacked nationwide in the two weeks after the deadly dispersal by security forces of two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo on August 14, 2013, Human Rights Watch said.

Amnesty International later said more than 200 Christian-owned properties were attacked and 43 churches seriously damaged, adding that at least four people were killed.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who as then army chief helped remove Morsi, has defended his security forces and accused jihadists of attacking Copts in order to divide the country.

In October 2011, almost 30 people — mostly Coptic Christians — were killed after the army charged at a protest outside the state television building in Cairo to denounce the torching of a church in southern Egypt.

In May that year, clashes between Muslims and Copts left 15 dead in the working-class Cairo neighbourhood of Imbaba where two churches were attacked.

A few months earlier, the unclaimed bombing of a Coptic church killed more than 20 people in Egypt’s second city of Alexandria on New Year’s Day.

Pope Francis will visit the site of the December church attack next to Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral — the seat of Coptic Christian Pope Tawadros II. </s> Dozens of people have been killed in recent years in sectarian attacks and clashes throughout Egypt. By MOHAMED EL-SHAHED (AFP/File)

Cairo (AFP) - An explosion in a Cairo church on Sunday near the headquarters of the Coptic pope killed at least 20 people, the health ministry said.

The blast ripped through the church around 10:00 am (0800 GMT), Egyptian security officials said. </s> Egypt imposed a three-month nationwide state of emergency Monday as President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi sought to ease public anger and take a tougher stand against Islamic extremists after suicide bombings at two Coptic Christian churches killed 45 people.

A day after the Palm Sunday bloodshed, the Interior Ministry said it killed seven Islamic State militants in an exchange of gunfire during a security operation in the southern city of Assiut. The ministry alleged they were plotting attacks against Christians. It posted photos of corpses lying next to weapons and said IS publications were found with them.

A state of emergency already in place in the Sinai Peninsula has failed to halt near daily attacks against police and security forces by the Islamic State group in the volatile area.

Now the group is stepping up its attacks against Christians, who make up 10 per cent of the population, by moving its activities from the Sinai to other parts of Egypt. Its increasingly sophisticated tactics are likely to fuel sectarian tensions and embarrass el-Sissi.

The Palm Sunday bombings struck churches in the port city of Alexandria, the historic seat of Christendom in Egypt, and the city of Tanta. The head of the Coptic church, Pope Tawadros II, had been inside St. Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria when the bomber struck there but was unhurt.

“We are seeing simultaneous attacks, based on strong information, targeting big churches across the country. This is a very dangerous development,” said Mina Thabet, a rights researcher focusing on minorities.

“Christians are in a state of shock,” he added. “Attacks are recurrent, victims are falling in bigger numbers, and people live in fear and these groups are growing in power, number, and resources.”

There were scenes of grief and anguish Monday as mourners wailed during funerals at the sprawling St. Mina monastery on the outskirts of Alexandria. Some collapsed near the caskets, which bore the word “martyr.”

Similar scenes took place a day earlier at a church in Tanta, where victims were laid to rest in a place of honour.

On Sunday, the Rev. Danial Maher buried his 23-year-old son, Beshoy. He recalled watching him singing at the service before the attack at St. George’s Church in Tanta. “He was like an angel,” he said.

Photos of the elder Maher, sitting helplessly in his blood-stained vestments after the bombing, were widely circulated online.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks and identified the two attackers with names suggesting they were Egyptians. The group, which carried out a bombing at a Cairo church in December that killed 30 people, threatened more such violence, saying the blood of Christians would flow “like rivers.”

Coptic Christians have put their faith in el-Sissi, who championed himself as the bulwark against Islamists.

The former army chief met with U.S. President Donald Trump a week ago at the White House, seeking closer ties and discussing the fight against extremism. Trump spoke by phone Sunday with el-Sissi to express confidence that Egypt will do what it can “to protect Christians and all Egyptians.”

The latest IS attacks were a blow to el-Sissi’s image and left many Christians doubting whether he is capable of protecting them.

He sought to restore that confidence by imposing the state of emergency, declaring three days of mourning, deploying special forces to help police secure churches and other key installations, and ordering the formation of a new body called the “Supreme Council to Combat Terrorism and Fanaticism.”

Parliament has seven days to approve the state of emergency – an action seen as a foregone conclusion since the legislature is packed with el-Sissi supporters. The Cabinet declared it had gone into effect at 1 p.m.

In theory, it allows for arrests without warrants, the swift prosecution of suspects and the establishment of special courts. But authorities already have been waging a heavy crackdown on dissent for years, so it was unclear what would change.

A limited state of emergency and nightly curfew in the northern Sinai since 2014 has done little to stem violence there.

“We won’t see a change on the ground, as this decision wasn’t taken to give more powers or tighten control,” said political analyst Yasser Abdel-Aziz. “It’s a purely political decision that is meant to have a psychological impact.”

El-Sissi has clamped down on opponents since he led the military overthrow of an Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, who was elected in 2013. Security forces violently dispersed demonstrations in the months that followed, killing hundreds of protesters. Thousands were jailed, mainly Morsi supporters but also secular and liberal activists.

“The powers that the security agencies have already don’t need reinforcement by the state of emergency,” Abdel-Aziz said. “The status quo of media and press freedoms is ideal for the security authorities to work without much noise.”

Joe Stork of Human Rights Watch said el-Sissi “seems to think that more repression of all Egyptians is the simple answer to terrorist attacks.”

What Egypt needs, he said, are “fair trials, not emergency courts with no appeal, which is mainly what the latest declaration of a state of emergency will give him.”

Many believe the unraveling of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s oldest and largest Islamist group, is creating new recruits for extremists.

The liberal Egyptian Social Democratic Party said the state of emergency could make things worse.

“Terrorism increased in the presence of the state of emergency,” said party leader Mohammed Arafat. “The real battle against terrorism starts with the execution of law on all without discrimination.”

The Palm Sunday attacks, the single deadliest day for Egypt’s Christians in decades, prompted messages of support from abroad, including from Pope Francis, who is to visit Egypt on April 28-29.

“This whole thing is to cause sectarian strife,” said Mona Makram, a former parliamentarian from a prominent Coptic family. “They want to show also that it is not only Sinai that will be targeted but the rest of the governorates.”

Israel shut its Taba border crossing to Egypt after its anti-terrorism office warned of an “imminent” attack there. The closure came hours before the start of Passover.

Soon afterward, sirens blared in parts of southern Israel, alerting residents to a rocket attack. The military said a rocket fired from Sinai hit a greenhouse but caused no injuries. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. </s> The attacks in the Nile Delta cities of Tanta and Alexandria followed a Cairo church bombing in December and came weeks before a planned visit by Catholic Pope Francis intended to show support for Egypt’s Christian minority.

Sisi declared the “three-month” state of emergency, which he must present to parliament within a week, during a defiant speech warning that the war against the jihadists “will be long and painful”.

The first bombing at the Mar Girgis church in Tanta city north of Cairo killed 27 people, the health ministry said.

Emergency services had scrambled to the scene when another blast rocked St Mark’s church in Alexandria where Coptic Pope Tawadros II had been leading a Palm Sunday service.

Seventeen people including at least four police officers were killed in that attack, which the interior ministry said was caused by a suicide bomber who blew himself up when prevented from entering the church.

The ministry said Tawadros was unharmed, and a church official said he left before the explosion.

The private CBC Extra channel aired footage of the Alexandria blast, with CCTV showing what appeared to be the church entrance engulfed in flame and flying concrete moments after a guard turned a man away.

Eyewitnesses said a police officer detected the bomber before he blew himself up.

At least 78 people were wounded in Tanta and 40 in Alexandria, the health ministry said.

Egyptian officials denounced the violence as an attempt to sow divisions, and Pop Francis sent his “deep condolences” to Tawadros.

IS claimed two Egyptian suicide bombers carried out both attacks and threatened further attacks in a statement published on social media.

After the bombings, Sisi ordered military deployments to guard “vital and important infrastructure”, his office said.

State television reported that the interior minister sacked the provincial head of security and replaced him after the attack.

“I heard the blast and came running. I found people torn up... some people, only half of their bodies remained,” Nabil Nader, who lives in front of the Tanta church, said.

At St Mark’s in Alexandria, at night the bodies were brought in wooden coffins decorated with golden crosses to the church yard where hundreds of sad and angry Copts gathered and a priest was saying prayers.

A Muslim funeral was also held in El Behira province for one of the four policemen killed in the St Mark’s attack.

Worshippers had been celebrating Palm Sunday, one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar, marking Jesus’s triumphant entrance to Jerusalem.

Egypt had been ruled under emergency law – which allows police expanded powers of arrest and surveillance – for decades before 2012.

Pope Francis, who is due in Cairo on April 28-29, offered prayers for the victims.

“Let us pray for the victims of the attack unfortunately carried out today,” he said.

“May the Lord convert the heart of those who sow terror, violence and death and also the heart of those who make weapons and trade in them.”

Copts, who make up about one tenth of Egypt’s population of more than 92 million and who celebrate Easter next weekend, have been targeted by several attacks in recent months.

Jihadists and Islamists accuse Copts of supporting the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, which ushered in a deadly crackdown on his supporters.

In December, a suicide bombing claimed by IS killed 29 worshippers in a Cairo church.

The group later released a video threatening Egypt’s Christians with more attacks.

A spate of jihadist-linked attacks in the restive Sinai Peninsula, including the murder of a Copt in the city of El Arish, led some Coptic families to flee.

“So sad to hear of the terrorist attack in Egypt. US strongly condemns. I have great confidence that President Al Sisi will handle situation properly,” he tweeted.

UN chief Antonio Guterres expressed the hope that the perpetrators will be swiftly brought to justice after a Security Council statement condemned the bombings as “heinous” and “cowardly”.

The Cairo-based Al-Azhar, an influential Sunni Muslim authority, said the attacks aimed to “destabilise security and... the unity of Egyptians”.

Egypt’s Copts have endured successive attacks since Morsi’s ouster in July 2013.

More than 40 churches were targeted nationwide in the two weeks after the deadly dispersal by security forces of two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo on August 14 that year, Human Rights Watch said.

Sisi, who as then army chief helped remove Morsi, has defended his security forces and accused jihadists of attacking Copts in order to divide the country.

In October 2011, almost 30 people – mostly Coptic Christians – were killed outside the state television building in Cairo after the army charged at protesters denouncing the torching of a church in southern Egypt.

A few months earlier, the unclaimed New Year’s Day bombing of a Coptic church killed more than 20 people in second city Alexandria.
At least 45 people have been killed and 50 injured in explosions near two Coptic Christian churches packed with worshippers on Palm Sunday in the Egyptian cities of Tanta and Alexandria.