President admits “much pain” but does not link attack on Coptic Christian chapel near St Mark’s Cathedral to any group.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has said a suicide bomber carried out the attack that killed 24 Christians during Sunday Mass at a Cairo chapel adjacent to St Mark’s Cathedral, the seat of Egypt’s ancient Coptic Orthodox Church.
It was among the deadliest attacks to ever target Egypt’s Coptic minority, which makes up about 10 percent of the country’s population and which was perceived to have supported the military overthrow of an elected Islamist president in 2013.
Since then, armed groups have carried out scores of attacks mainly targeting the security forces, while the government has waged a wide-scale crackdown on dissent.
Speaking after a state funeral for the victims, Sisi identified the bomber as 22-year-old Mahmoud Shafiq Mohammed Mustafa, and said three men and a woman were arrested in connection with the attack, which wounded 49 people.
Bomber identified
Two other suspects were on the run, Sisi said. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sisi did not link the bomber to any armed group, but police Major-General Tarek Attia, a top interior ministry official, told the Associated Press news agency the suspect was previously arrested in Fayoum province, southwest of Cairo, in 2014 on charges of being a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Sisi spoke after health ministry officials revised the number of victims down to 24, suggesting that the 25th body belonged to the bomber. The victims are thought to include 22 women … read more