Egypt holds funeral for murdered Coptic Christians

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi confirmed today at a state funeral service that a suicide bomber carried out the Sunday attack that killed 24 Coptic Christians in a chapel during mass.

It was the deadliest attack on Egypt’s minority Christian group.

Only the victims’ relatives attended the funeral, led by Coptic Pope Tawadros II amid tight security. The Coptic community held its own funeral mass for the victims earlier in the day.

Al-Sisi said after the service that 22-year-old Mahmoud Shafiq Mohammed Mustafa triggered the explosion with a suicide vest. Security officials have arrested three men and a woman connected to the attack, while two other suspects are on the run, al-Sisi added. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The president called for more firm anti-terrorism laws to crack down on the country’s militants.

“The attack brought us great pain, but we will never be torn apart,” al-Sisi said. “We will hold steadfast and, God willing, we will succeed.”

During the funeral, Pope Tawadros prayed over coffins lined up before the altar, draped in national flags and crosses made from roses.

“God, protect us and your people from the conspiracies of the evil ones,” he prayed. “It is the destiny of our church to offer martyrs.”

The Sunday morning bomb blast wounded 49 people and killed 24 others, 22 of them women. The chapel, where the blast occurred, stands adjacent to St. Mark’s Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Some survivors said security officials did not carry out the usual checks at the cathedral, which is normally guarded.

“There were large numbers, so people entered without being searched,” Mina Francis, whose mother died in the blast, told Reuters.

Egypt’s Coptic community makes up about 10 percent of the country’s population. The minority group faces recurring attacks from militant Muslims. Christians in the country have long complained of discrimination, and say they are denied jobs and land rights because of their faith.

Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church expressed his condolences to the Coptic Church after his Sunday Angelus prayer, during which he prayed for terror attack victims.

“I would like to express a special closeness to my dear brother, Pope Tawadros II, and his community,” he said. “I am praying for the dead and the wounded.”