22 Killed, 35 Injured In Bomb Blast at Cairo’s Coptic Cathedral

An assailant lobbed a bomb into a chapel close to the outer wall of St Mark’s Cathedral.
AP
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Security forces secure the area outside St Mark’s Cathedral in central Cairo, following a bomb blast on Sunday (Photo: AP)
Security forces secure the area outside St Mark’s Cathedral in central Cairo, following a bomb blast on Sunday (Photo: AP)
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A bombing at Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral killed 22 people and wounded another 35 on Sunday, according to Egyptian state television, in the second deadly attack to hit the Egyptian capital in two days.

Egypt's official MENA news agency said an assailant lobbed a bomb into a chapel close to the outer wall of St Mark’s Cathedral, seat of Egypt's Orthodox Christian church and home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II.

On Friday, six policemen were killed in a bomb attack in Cairo claimed by a group suspected by authorities of links to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's attack, which bore the hallmarks of Islamic militants fighting the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

As defense minister, el-Sissi led the July 2013 ouster of Mohammed Morsi, an elected Islamist president who hails from the Brotherhood.

Islamic militants launched a wave of attacks on security forces and Christians in response, as the government waged a sweeping crackdown on Morsi's supporters and other activists.

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