ISIS claims responsibility for Egypt church bombing

The Suicide bomber, nicknamed Abu Abdullah al-Masry, blew himself up with an explosive belt, the terror group said in a statement circulated online.

Cairo, Dec 14: The Islamic State terror group has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing at a church here during a Sunday mass in which 25 people, mostly women and children, were killed and nearly 50 others injured.

The Suicide bomber, nicknamed Abu Abdullah al-Masry, blew himself up with an explosive belt, the terror group said in a statement circulated online. Egypt President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, while attending the State funeral of the victims on Monday, said a 22-year-old suicide bomber called Mahmoud Shafik Mohamed Mostafa was behind the attack.

He said that four persons including a woman were arrested. Twenty-five worshippers, mostly women and children, were killed and nearly 50 injured when the powerful blast ripped through the church adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral here during a Sunday mass, the deadliest attack against the minority community in recent times.

The explosion took place inside St Peter's Church attached to St Mark's Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic pope who heads Egypt's Christian minority, in Abbassyia district of central Cairo at around 10:00 AM when the Sunday mass was on.

PTI