(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Coptic church in Egypt on Saturday, killing 21 people and wounding 79 others in an attack President Hosni Mubarak said was the work of "foreign hands".
The bombing in the port city of Alexandria sparked fierce anger among Christians, who clashed with police and shouted slogans against the regime of the ageing president.
A health ministry official said 21 people were killed and 79 wounded, and the Interior Ministry said eight of those injured were Muslims.
A witness had told private television On-TV he saw a car park outside the Al Qiddissin (The Saints) church shortly after midnight, two men get out and the explosion happen almost immediately afterwards.
But the Interior Ministry ruled out the hypotheses of a car bomb, saying it was "probable that the bomb... was carried by a suicide bomber who died among the crowd".
The device was packed with pieces of metal to cause the maximum amount of harm, it added. And the circumstances of the explosion, "given the methods that currently prevail in terrorist activities at the global and regional level, clearly indicate" that the bombing was "planned and carried out by foreign elements".
Mubarak echoed that, saying the bombing bore the hallmark "of foreign hands". In televised remarks, he referred to it as something that "is alien to us", and pledged to "cut off the head of the snake, confront terrorism and defeat it".
"All of Egypt is targeted. This blind terrorism does not differentiate between Copts and Muslims," he said, urging people from both faiths to unite.
"You are terribly mistaken if you believe that you can hide from the punishment of the Egyptian people," he added, addressing the still-unknown assailants.
Pope Benedict XVI, during New Year's mass, urged world leaders to defend Christians against abuse and intolerance. "I once again launch a pressing appeal not to give in to discouragement and resignation," said the pontiff.
Refaa Al Tahtawi, spokesman for Al Azhar, Sunni's Cairo-based main institution of learning, denounced the attack and appealed for calm, as did a senior Coptic official, but to no avail.
Some 15 hours after the bombing, growing numbers of Christians were continuing to vent their anger.
By mid-afternoon, hundreds of youths in small groups in the neighbourhood of the church were showering rocks and bottles on police, who responded with tear gas and rubber-coated bullets.
"O Mubarak, the heart of the Copts is on fire," they shouted as they darted in and out of side-streets to heckle police.
Others unfurled their fury at the "cowardly terrorists" and chanted: "The blood of the Copts is not cheap."
Some protesters blamed the government for the incident, saying it was singling out the Copts because of their political views.
"The government is involved," said Ishaq Habib.
"They want to break the Copts. They know that the Copts do not love Gamal Mubarak," the president's son, who has been widely viewed as a candidate to succeed him in power.
While no one has claimed the attack, it comes two months after gunmen stormed a Baghdad cathedral in an operation that left 44 worshippers, two priests and seven security forces dead.
That was claimed by Al Qaeda's Iraq affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq.
"All Christian centres, organisations and institutions, leaders and followers, are legitimate targets for the mujahedeen (holy warriors) wherever they can reach them," the group said.
After the threats, protection around Coptic places of worship was discreetly stepped, with Mubarak saying he was committed to protecting the Christians "faced with the forces of terrorism and extremism".
The Copts account for up to 10 per cent of Egypt's 80-million population, and often complain of discrimination and have been the target of sectarian attacks.
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