CAIRO // Hundreds of Egyptians gathered on Monday to mourn the 45 Christians killed in bombing attacks on two churches just a week before Easter, as a three-month state of emergency went into effect.
ISIL said it was behind the blasts that targeted Palm Sunday services at Coptic churches in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria, and threatened further attacks against Egypt’s Christian minority.
Sunday’s first bombing at the Mar Girgis church in Tanta, a city north of Cairo, killed 28 people. In the second attack, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt outside St Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria after he was prevented from entering the building. That attack killed 17 people, including seven police officers.
The bombings – which were the biggest coordinated attacks against Christians in decades – sent an unusually strong wave of despair through the Egyptian public.
"I have been doing business with Christians for 30 years. We get along well," a Muslim resident of Tanta named Gamal told The National.
“There for sure is an outside hand that is trying to split the Egypt people,” added the 58-year-old, who runs a machinery repair shop.
Cairo resident Mohamed Amer said Egyptians were united in their mourning.
“Absolutely everyone is upset about the bombings,” he said.
In the Saint Mina monastery, west of Alexandria, mourners bade farewell to the victims whose wooden coffins were placed near the altar amid applause.
During the funerals, angry crowds denounced the Egyptian security services and the country’s interior minister, Magdy Abdel Ghaffar.
“Leave, leave, Abdel Ghaffar!” mourners chanted. “I am a Christian till judgment day.”
At St Mark’s Cathedral, where the head of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church had been leading a service when the bomber struck on Sunday, investigators combed for clues and took pictures of the debris produced by the blast.
A handful of black-clad women showed their identification papers to guards before being allowed to enter the church.
“I’m so sad, I cannot speak,” said one mourner, a woman in her 40s.
In Cairo, meanwhile, the Egyptian cabinet said it had approved president Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s decision to declare a three-month state of emergency.
The measure took effect at 1pm, with Egyptian security forces blocking off streets and placing cordons around Egyptian churches.
Constitutionally, the measure still has to be approved by parliament within seven days, but this is a formality given the number of pro-Sisi delegates.
The cabinet also announced compensation of 100,000 Egyptian pounds (Dh20,406) for each death, and a monthly pension of 1,500 pounds, while still evaluating “appropriate compensation” for the injured.
Scores of people were wounded in the attacks, with 30 still in hospital in Tanta on Monday, and 35 in hospital in Alexandria.
In Abu Dhabi, a delegation from the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, led by Chairman Dr Mohammed Mattar Al Kaabi, visited the capital’s Coptic Church to reiterate the UAE’s firm stance against terrorism and extend condolences over the Sunday attacks, state news agency Wam reported.
“We strongly condemn this evil assault on churches, worshippers and the Egyptian society which struck at a time when the grand Imam of Al Azhar was leading the world’s most important inter-religious to establish peace and civilised coexistence among all religions and religious scholars,” Dr Al Kaabi said.
Meanwhile, the Vatican said on Monday that Pope Francis still planned to visit Egypt later this month in what will be his first visit to the country.
“There is no doubt the Holy Father will maintain his offer to go to Egypt” on April 28 and 29, said official Monsignor Angelo Becciu.
“What happened caused disorder and tremendous suffering, but it cannot stop the pope’s mission of peace.”
Also on Monday, Washington said US president Donald Trump had called Mr El Sisi to express his condolences.
“The president also expressed his confidence in president Al Sisi’s commitment to protect Christians and all Egyptians,” the White House said.
MPs said the state of emergency – Egypt’s first since widespread unrest in 2013 – would help the country face down an extremist insurgency.
It came after Mr El Sisi warned in a defiant speech on Sunday that the war against extremists would be “long and painful” after he ordered the army to protect “vital infrastructure” and boost security along Egypt’s borders.
But in the farmlands west of Cairo, at least one resident wasn’t convinced.
“How did they let them get into the church?” asked Nasir Ahmed, a 43-year-old Muslim taxi driver.
“If they can’t get security right, what can they do?
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting from Agence France-Presse
