Where do we go? - New Years Day Attack on Church in Alexandria Egypt

A powerful bomb exploded in front of a crowded Coptic Christian church a half hour into the New Year early Saturday, hitting worshippers emerging from a holiday Mass in the Egyptian city of Alexandria and killing at least 21 people in an attack that raised suspicions of an al-Qaida role.

Nearly 1,000 Christians were attending the New Year's Mass at the Saints Church in the Mediterrean port city, said Father Mena Adel, a priest who attended. The service had just ended, and worshippers were leaving the building when the bomb went off about a half-hour after midnight, he said.

"The last thing I heard was a powerful explosion and then my ears went deaf," Marco Boutros, a 17-year-old survivor, said from his hospital bed. "All I could see were body parts scattered all over - legs and bits of flesh."

Bodies of many of the dead were collected from the street and kept inside the church overnight before they were taken away Saturday by ambulances for burial amid scenes of grief and anger.

Some Christians carried white sheets with the sign of the cross emblazoned on them with what appeared to be the blood of the victims.

"This attack targets Egypt's security as a whole," said Bishop Armia, a senior aide to Pope Shenouda III, the spiritual leader of Egypt's Orthodox Coptic Church. "God will protect us.

After the blast, angry Christians clashed with police and Muslim residents, chanting, "With our blood and soul, we redeem the cross," witnesses said.


Christians, mainly Orthodox Copts, are believed to make up about 10 percent of Egypt's mainly Muslim population of nearly 80 million people, and they have grown increasingly vocal in complaints about discrimination. There have been occasional attacks targeting Christians and churches - most notably, in January 2009, when seven Christians were killed in a drive-by shooting on a church in southern Egypt during celebrations for the Orthodox Coptic Christmas.

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• Coptic
• Church
• egypt
• Islam
• Christians
• terrorism
• fanaticism
• copts
• alexandria

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