Egypt church blast kills seven

At least seven people have been killed as an explosion went off in front of a Coptic Christian church as worshippers emerged from a New Year’s Mass in the Egyptian city of Alexandria.

After the blast, angry Christians emerging from the church clashed with police and stormed a nearby mosque, prompting fights and volleys of stone throwing with Muslims, police and witnesses said – a sign of the sectarian anger that has been arising with greater frequency in Egypt.

Nearly 1,000 Christians were attending the Mass at the Saints Church in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, said a priest at the church, Father Mena Adel. The service had just ended, and worshippers were leaving the building when the blast went off, about a half-hour after midnight.

“I was inside the church and heard a huge explosion,” Father Adel said. “People’s bodies were in flames.”

The blast came from a car parked outside the church, but police said they were still investigating whether the car had been rigged with explosives or if a bomb had been placed under it. Witnesses reported seeing the charred chassis of the destroyed car, with the remains of several bodies nearby and dozens wounded.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that seven people were killed and 24 wounded.

The attack comes at a time of rising sectarian tension in Egypt and the broader region. In November, hundreds of Christians rioted in the capital, Cairom, smashing cars and windows after police violently stopped the construction of a church. The rare outbreak of Christian unrest in the capital left one person dead.

Christians are believed to make up about 10% 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 – most notably, in January 2009, seven Christians were killed in a drive-by shooting on a church in southern Egypt during celebrations for the Orthodox Coptic Christmas. The Saints Church in Alexandria targetting early Saturday also came under attack in April 2006, when a man with a knife stabbed worshippers.

At the same time, al Qaida-linked militants have carried out a campaign of attacks against Christians in Iraq, killing 68 in a church siege in October and two more Christians in attacks in Baghdad on Thursday.