CAIRO, Egypt — At least 24 people were killed and 49 injured after a Dec. 11 blast near Cairo’s main Coptic Christian Cathedral in Egypt, according to reports from the Egyptian state-sponsored Middle East News Agency (MENA). The attack occurred just days after another bombing in Cairo that killed six policemen.
MENA reported that someone threw a bomb into a small chapel, Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, attached to the St. Mark’s Cathedral in the Abbassia district, Egypt’s main Coptic church.
Photos and video showed shattered windows and deteriorated roofing in the aftermath. The bomb exploded on the side of the chapel traditionally used by women so most of the victims were women and children. The blast took place as a Sunday mass being held in the chapel was about to end and coincided with a national holiday in Egypt marking the birth of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, according to reports.
At press time, no group had taken responsibility for the bombing. (RNS, MS, TAB)
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