Al-Qaeda blamed for Egyptian church blast

A bomb killed 21 people outside a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria early yesterday, and the interior ministry said a foreign-backed suicide bomber might have been responsible.

The blast did not originate in any of the cars that were destroyed, a ministry statement said. "It is likely that the device which exploded was carried by a suicide bomber who died among others," it said.

The circumstances of this and other recent attacks "clearly indicates that foreign elements undertook the planning and execution", said the statement.

The ministry had earlier said the blast, which wounded 43 people as worshippers marking the New Year left the church, had apparently been caused by a bomb in a car parked nearby.

The bombing prompted hundreds of Christians to take to the streets in protest. Some Christians and Muslims pelted each other with rocks, and cars were set on fire.

Christians make up about 10% of Muslim-majority Egypt's 79 million population.

Egypt, due to hold a presidential election in September, has stepped up security around churches, banning cars from parking directly outside them, after an al-Qaeda-linked group in Iraq issued a threat against churches in Egypt in November.

The group, which claimed an attack on a church in Baghdad in November, threatened the Egyptian church over its treatment of women the group said the church was holding after they had converted to Islam.

"This is a scene from Baghdad," a witness told Reuters.

The governor of Alexandria, Adel Labib, "accused al-Qaeda of planning the bombing", state television reported.

It said the investigation was continuing.

Police used teargas to disperse the Christian protest, and dozens of officers surrounded the area yesterday to prevent a repeat.

Rocks were strewn over the street, and windows of parked cars were smashed.

"We sacrifice our souls and blood for the cross," shouted protesting Christians near the Coptic Orthodox Church where the blast struck.

Ambulances were at the scene, and medical personnel gathered body parts that had been scattered over the area.

Kameel Sadeeq of the Coptic Council in Alexandria, told Reuters: "People went into church to pray to God, but ended up as scattered limbs. This massacre has al-Qaeda written all over it, the same pattern it has adopted in other countries."

An interior ministry statement said the blast occurred just after midnight in front of the church after a service to mark the New Year. It said the blast damaged a mosque near the church, and eight Muslims were among the wounded.

The official MENA news agency and other state media put the toll at 21 dead and 43 wounded.

President Hosni Mubarak urged Egyptians to stand united in confronting terrorism and called on the authorities swiftly to round up those behind the incident.

Tensions can flare between Muslims and Christians, usually over issues such as the building of churches or relationships between members of the two communities.

Last January, a drive-by shooting of six Christians and a Muslim policeman at a church in southern Egypt sparked protests.

In November, hundreds of Christians clashed with riot police and with some Muslims in Cairo in protest against a decision to halt construction of a church.

Officials said the Christians did not have a licence to build a church.

Two Christians died and dozens were hurt in the clashes. More than 150 were detained.

Analysts say the state must address grievances such as those over laws making it easier to build a mosque than a church if it wants to stem sectarian violence.

Officials are swift to play down sectarian differences and were particularly keen to emphasise national harmony after a parliamentary election in November that opposition groups said was rigged.

Mubarak, 82, and in power since 1981, is expected to run again, if he is able to.

Gall-bladder surgery in March revived questions about his health, although he has resumed a full schedule. - Reuters