Bomb blasts kills many at Egyptian Coptic churches

At least 37 people have been killed and more than 100 people injured in two separate bomb attacks targeted at two Egyptians Coptic churches packed with Palm Sunday worshipers. 

According to a report by the Independent, ​the first attack took place in the Mar Girgis church in the Nile Delta town of Tanta, north of Cairo, killing 26 and wounding 78 while a second blast in occurred a few hours later in front of a church in Alexandria killing 11 people and wounding 66, the health ministry said.

No one has claim immediate responsibility for the attacks, which come a week before Easter celebration and in the same month that Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Egypt.

 

Egypt Ministry of Interior said Pope Tawadros, who had attended mass at Saint Mark's Cathedral, was still in the building at the time of the explosion but was not harmed.

Thousands of people gathered outside the church in Tanta shortly after the blast, some wearing black, crying, and describing a scene of carnage.

"There was blood all over the floor and body parts scattered," said a Christian woman who was inside the church.

"There was a huge explosion in the hall. Fire and smoke filled the room and the injuries were extremely severe," another Christian woman, Vivian Fareeg, said.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Prime Minister Sherif Ismail are set to visit the Tanta site later on Sunday and Sisi has ordered an emergency national defence council meeting, state news reported.