Video Captures Moment of Suicide Bomb Attack on Egyptian Church
- Posted on January 2, 2011 at 10:59am by
Meredith Jessup
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ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP/The Blaze) — Dozens of grieving Christians returned to pray Sunday in a blood-spattered church where 21 worshipers were killed in a New Years Day suicide bombing, many of them sobbing, screaming in anger and slapping themselves in grief.
The bombing in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria struck worshipers as they were leaving midnight Mass Saturday about 30 minutes into the new year. Egyptian officials immediately blamed it on foreigners and al-Qaida, even before they completed an investigation. About 100 people were wounded in the attack.
During the Mass on Sunday, authorities deployed heavy security outside the Saints Church including riot police backed by armored vehicles. Riots erupted Saturday in Alexandria when Christians, accusing authorities of not doing enough to protect the minority group, clashed with police and Muslims.
“We spend every holiday in grief,” said Sohair Fawzy, a woman who attended the Mass Sunday and who lost two sisters and a niece in the attack.
Inside the church, the floor was still stained with blood, two statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary were toppled and benches were scattered by the impact of the blast. A red foam sign that read “2011” on the church’s door was torn apart. A wooden cross hanging on the church gate was covered with a white sheet stained with victims’ blood and bits of human flesh remained stuck on the gate. Young Christian men prevented cleaners from removing the flesh.
“Leave them. This is pure blood,” one of the men shouted.
Father Maqar, who led the service, did not give a sermon, preferring to express his grief with silence.
“I tell Christians to pray and pray to ease their agony,” he told The Associated Press after the service.
Newly released video shows the impact of the bomber’s attack from inside the church where worshipers were celebrating Mass:
Security officials said 25 people have been detained for questioning, but none of them was thought to be linked to the attack. They said the 25 were mostly owners of cars parked outside the church at the time, storekeepers and Muslim neighbors known to be Islamic fundamentalists. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.
No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing. But President Hosni Mubarak blamed “foreign hands” and the Alexandria governor accused al-Qaida, pointing to threats against Christians in Iraq by the terror network’s branch in that country.
Investigators were examining two heads found at the site on suspicion that at least one was the bomber’s, Egypt’s state news agency MENA reported.
After militants attacked a Baghdad church in October and killed 68 people, al-Qaida in Iraq threatened more attacks and linked the violence to two Egyptian Christian women who sought to convert to Islam after the Coptic Orthodox Church prohibited them from divorcing their husbands who were priests in the church.
The two women have since been secluded by the Church, prompting Islamic hard-liners in Egypt to accuse the Church of imprisoning the women and forcing them to renounce Islam, a claim the Church denies.
Al-Qaida in Iraq has also threatened Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Christian community over the two cases.
Egypt’s government has long insisted that al-Qaida does not have a significant presence in the country, and it has never been conclusively linked to any attacks here.
But Egypt does have a rising movement of Islamic hard-liners who, while they do not advocate violence, adhere to an ideology similar in other ways to al-Qaida. There have been fears they could be further radicalized by sectarian tensions. The hard-liners, known as Salafis, have a large and active presence in Alexandria.
The Interior Ministry has said the crime lab investigation found the explosives used in this attack, likely by a suicide bomber, were locally made and filled with nails and ball bearings to maximize casualties.
The attack was the worst against Egypt’s Christian minority in a decade. It stoked tensions that have grown in recent years between Christians and the Muslim majority. In expressing condolences and grief for the victims of the attack, Pope Benedict XVI said the attack on worshipers “offends God and all of humanity,” and said such attacks were meant to intimidate Christians. During his New Year’s appeal Saturday, the pontiff encouraged Christians around the world — and especially in the Middle East — to remain strong in the face of intolerance and violence.
The bombing in Alexandria was dramatically different from past attacks on Christians, which included shootings but not serious bombings, much less suicide attacks. Christians have increasingly accused the government of dismissing violence against them or anti-Christian sentiment among Muslim hard-liners.
Christians, mainly Orthodox Copts, make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s mainly Muslim population of nearly 80 million people, and they have increasingly complained about discrimination. In November, hundreds of Christians rioted in the capital, Cairo, smashing cars and windows after police violently stopped the construction of a church. The rare outbreak of Christian unrest in the capital left two people dead.
Alexandria, the famed city of antiquity which a century ago was home to a mix of Muslims, Christians, Jews and foreigners, has become a stronghold for Islamic hard-liners the past decade. Stabbings at three Alexandria churches in 2006 sparked three days of Muslim-Christian riots that left at least four dead.
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Comments (74)
heavyduty
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 2:12pmThe lady on the film asked why the people in the bars and other places besides church were not being killed and injured. It’s simple, Satan won’t attack the ones that he already owns. Why should he? He only attacks Christians to demoralize them to get them to quit their faith and come back to him. I am sorry that this had to happen. But until Christians stand up and are counted as one against this hatred then there will be a lot more die and injured.
Report Post »kickagrandma
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 2:23pm@HEAVYDUTY and others of the faith~~~ I agree! We CHRISTIANS are now on the firing line and in the trenches. We must be ready to kneel and pray, to stand and fight, to give all for JESUS WHO gave all for us. satan is paying his followers well on this earth as we see in the msm and in the current administration and support groups. Our reward is not here but HOME one of these days. YES, prophecy is being fulfilled as quickly as we breathe in and out. JESUS IS COMING SOON for HIS kids. Some of you who are reading these posts will be left behind because you haven’t been able to make that commitment to HIM. You will then be the leaders of the ones who will come to believe because you know THE TRUTH and that you saw it in the lives of those you knew and loved when we were here with you. Let us all pray, fight, speak out for CHRISTIANS and for JESUS while there is time. GOD BLESS EACH ONE OF YOU as we indeed stand in the BLAZE of GOD’s presence in this world. Can I get an “amen”?
Report Post »AmericanborninCanada
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 2:05pmHas Katie commented on this? Maybe this could be a part of the show she’s wanting. My heart goes out to my brothers and sisters in Christ in Egypt and everywhere else. Jesus told us we’d be hated and persecuted for His Name, but it still makes me cry to see it so much. I pray these people will have the peace of our Savior. I pray also, as hard is it must be, that they would continue to show the love and grace of Christ towards those who hate them.
Report Post »WILLIAM E.
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 2:23pmAbsolutely. Time for Couric to Wag her Mouth !!
Report Post »RepubliCorp
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 3:55pmThey can call the show “America Is Stupid”
Report Post »Deyo_
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:58pmMay our Lord, Jesus Christ, welcome the faithful into the Kingdom of our God.
Report Post »WhiteFang
Posted on January 4, 2011 at 5:50pmHe will my friend, he will.
Really, the Kingdom of God is our ONLY real hope.
Matthew 7:21
All this trouble we see is just a temporary inconvenience.
Report Post »JROCCOD
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:52pmTo add insult to injury, the President of the United States offered condolances to the Christian AND muslim “victims” What? does this guy have sympathy for the suicide bomber? Islam is NOT a religion. It is a political ideology. There is a judicial componant, (sharia), there is a social componant, there is an economic componant, and finally there is a religious componant, used, to make the world accept them so they can destroy it. DO NOT GIVE THESE BASTARDS CREDABILITY BY RECOGNIZING THE RELIGIOUS COMPONANT OF THIS POLITICAL SYSTEM.
Report Post »BTW They also have a military componant, its called TERRORISIM!!!!
FANGS
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:35pmLet it be a warning to all faithful peaceful Muselums. Please make sure that violence doesn’t hit any Christian churches in the U.S. Please be aware that Christians will too ,martre themselves for our God. If just one church gets hit . Muselum Genocide will begin.
Report Post »paperpushermj
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:41pm………………………..Thou shall not murder…………………..
Report Post »Non-sequitur
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:47pm“Thou shall not murder”
That only counts if the other guy is Christian, silly!
Report Post »UpstateNYConservative
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:55pm@paperpushermj
People are really ticked off, and they need to vent; many feel betrayed and helpless. I understand.
That said, you are totally right here.
In my view, now is a time for faith, not revenge.
Peace to you and your House.
Report Post »paperpushermj
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 3:24pmUPSTATE: And Yours
Report Post »Ghostrider
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 4:27pmself defense is not murder.
Report Post »drattastic
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:32pmIslam the religion of peace and tolerance.
Report Post »paperpushermj
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 6:43pm@ ghostrider: And you want to Stand before your God and make that case.
Report Post »paperpushermj
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:29pmThe reality for the West is what. How do we stem or perhaps divert the rise of Islam without a religious war spanning the globe at the cost of hundreds of millions of lives. In less then a hundred years Islam will dominate old Europe with not much we can do about it. With the clash of cultures approaching can Islam accommodate the west and avoid Armageddon by going through their own Reformation. Questions,Questions nothing but Questions
Report Post »UpstateNYConservative
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:27pmI won’t be surprised if the MSM, if they report this, focus on Christian ‘anger, backlash, and confrontation’ in wake of the bombing. Just another example of Christian fundamentalism and intolerance, of us not being Christ-like, I‘m sure they’ll say. I’m also quite convinced, if the MSM can’t make that stick, they’ll just ignore the bombing altogether.
Or some other variation of the above.
Report Post »sjohn70037
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:24pmGee, the outrage from all the “good” muslims is deafening isn’t it?
Kill‘em all and let God sort’em out.
Report Post »GeeWhiz
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:57pmAnother stunning example of the Religion of Peace. Remember this moment when you hear some idiot spout that Christians are free to practice their religion and live side by side as equals in Islamically ruled countries.
Report Post »STIPPING@ICPCOMPANY.NET
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:53pmThis and other terrorist atrocities are all of a biblical nature and spiritual war. The problem will never be solved by man alone. Honor God and his great creation, take care of your families and friends, and know that prophecy is being fufilled even as we write here.
Report Post »ChiefGeorge
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:16pmAgreed!!! Propechy is being fulfilled and things are being revealed to us everyday now. We are living in the midst of it but some can’t see it for the thick of the trees. You can know all about WWII in a 90 minute documentary. But in those years for those living in the midst of that horror had no idea where it was going, how it would end up. Not all had the news and the entire picture. What I am saying is you need to step back and look at the bigger picture.
Report Post »sasoldier4god
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:31pmI pray that God watch over these brothers and sisters. I am also in aw of there faith and resolve. I have known a few Christian family’s who have fled Egypt because of persecution by those who follow the religion of peace and tolerance.
Report Post »Country
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:24pmObama said the attack was barbaric, what about terrorism? Is that still not in this administration’s vocabulary? May God bless and protect these Christians in these countries where so-call human right org. has no interest in.
Report Post »REB182
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:14pmAwesome……I’m right with you, enough already!
Report Post »zagfan
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:11pmThe Peaceful Religion is here in America and if we don’t wise up we will see the same thing here. We have got to stop being so p.c. and calling them Moderate…No such creature exists! If they follow the teaching of their Ideology..that are all the same and that is now where close to moderate!
Report Post »Gerrymanderer
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:01pmTreason.
Report Post »KEA
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:58amSo who knew to video the blast? Who posted the video to Youtube?
Report Post »StMichelob
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:00pmLooked like a security cam in the church.
Report Post »mayihelpyou
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:56amDeath to Islam.
Allah be damned.
StMichelob
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:53amSorry, “Malachy”, and here’s the link.
http://www.bibleprobe.com/last10popes.htm
StMichelob
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:51amAccording to Pope Malacki, who predicted each of the popes succeeding him (80% accurately, I might add…) The pope following the current pope will “gather and feed the starving masses” before ushering in the antichrist. With the mass exodus of the Christians living in muslim nations, seems pope Malacki was correct again…research this for yourselves though, folks. Don’t take my word.
Report Post »StMichelob
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:54amSorry, “Malachy”, and here’s the link.
Report Post »http://www.bibleprobe.com/last10popes.htm
ubuibi
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 3:33pmVery interesting reading, however, you miss a very important part. Malachy only named 111 Popes, ending with the current Pope Benedict XVI. The 112th and last Pope was added in the 1800′s reprinting of the reading. I’m guessing someone in the church decided to add the last Pope Peter, so that people wouldn’t panic when the actual last Pope, Benedict XVI was elected. Just a guess….but why no mention of Peter Romanus until the 19th century when the predictions happened in the 12th century?
Report Post »StMichelob
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 5:41pm…I never knew that, but my first guess, knowing how the very early catholic church opporated, is that Peter the Roman WAS prophesised, but was removed by the church, and then re-added when some other, earlier documentation was found.
Report Post »But that’s just a guess.
Happy Killmore
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:48amThe Islamofascists will not take us seriously until we fight on the same level they do. We should simply bomb the Qaba during The Haj and be done with it. It is only death and gratuitous violence they understand.
America_First
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:49pmGreetings to add your statement…in order for these people of peace (a piece here and a piece there…catching Mikemanners11′s drift)…these radicals will not stop until they experience total brutality…It is my opinion that Israel should blockade Gaza, by land and by sea then send in their forces to kill every man, woman, child, goat, sheep everything that breaths…then bulldoze every existing structure…and put these peace loving people on notice that we the non-Muslims of the word will not put up with their BS any longer…We should let them know if one more bomb goes off taking one life then Mecca & Madina will be nuked…After which time their un-Godley religion is outlawed and we do to them what they are doing to us…Violence must be met with total violence…During WW II Germany and Japan were stopped by all out Violence and both countries along with the world are better off today…
Report Post »Happy Killmore
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 3:47pmExactly! We just need to use a little more Old Testament justice and a lot less turn the other cheek. People forget, The New Testament did not change one “jot or tiddle” of the Old. Jesus himself grabbed a whip and threw out money changers. These punks think we’re weak. Enough is enough!!!
Report Post »Paul -Indiana
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 9:15pmI wondered if the Stuxnet virus could also change targeting coordinates in Iranian missiles. If so, why just bother with targets within Iran? This has possibilities.
Report Post »right-wing-waco
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:47amAnyone want to bet on Islam?
Report Post »ChiefGeorge
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 1:10pmJesus says that evil will be vanquished. I’ll take his word for it since he conquered death and still lives. No matter what your beliefs are on good and evil, God or no God. Know this! God loves us and wants none of what is going on to happen. He sent us prophets to share his truth, he sent his son to share his love, he sent us the Holy Spirit so we would have comfort and be able to discern his holiness. We have a choice and men have chosen evil time and time again. Jesus said as much in the book of John. Jesus stepped out of eternity with the Father and took on a mortal body to share in our exeprience and confess to us who he was, why he was here and what was to come. All of what Jesus said is true. He will eventually return. Folks need to get ready in their hearts before God. Because when your time is up here… and it will come one day when you least expect, you will die. If you do not know God you will be cast out into darkness. God is all light and there is not darkness in him but only love for us. Be apart of that after this life fades. Get to know him! He will deliver! This world will surely pass away and Jesus said his words would never pass away. 2 thousand years later his words are just as revelant if not more so than they were then. Read John. Find him that wants you with him after all is said and done in this life.
Report Post »ARIZONA VETERAN
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:47amHEY WITH THE RECENT REPEAL OF D.A.D.T. Clinton CAN LEGALLY JOIN THE US MILITARY!!
Report Post »justanamerican
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:46amIf this had been an attack on a MOSQUE, it would be all over the scum bag mainstreanm media!!!!!!!!
No Question !!!! And Obama spends all his free time ‘defending’ ISLAM!!!!!!!!
Report Post »Christians are the majority religion, and yet face the most attack and condemnation. We need a serious CHANGE in our country’s leadership, and FAST
ChiefGeorge
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:59pmThere is no such thing as a forever for Islam. Not even the world as we know it will go on forever. Big changes coming to a World near you. Get to know God. He will answer your questions and doubts.
The dead now live with Christ and God the father. They now crossed over to the real world which was before the foundations of the earth were laid. Pray for the families of those left behind. Pray for the safety and peace of those left behind.
These are the beginnings of what must come to pass. Christians minding their own business slaughtered for what? Because they believe in the one and only true God who judges the sins of men. Evil attacks good. Evil leaves evil alone. Good leaves good alone. Got it.
Report Post »HillBillySam1
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 5:49pmOur current administration , and the media, will double over backwards to label this violence as the work of “extremists”…..not MUSLIM extremists….that would be bad…..only TEA PARTY, or CONSERVATIVE, or CHRISTIAN “extremists” can be labled as “bad”. That is their world-view…..Musilims=good….Christians=bad….
Report Post »mikemanners11
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:44amHey Folks….Islam is a Religion of PEACE!!!!
A “Piece” of you over here……a “Piece” of you over there…..
Report Post »TruthTalker
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 11:55amWere is Katie Couric condeming the Christianphobia?
Report Post »justanamerican
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:07pmUntil there are consequences to this muderous religion, it will continue forever!
Report Post »The problem is that they convince idiots to kill themselves for 72 virgins, and the idiots mostly wind up dead and unable to pay for their actions or answer for them….The peopel that send them walk away free and clear..
However, if there are consequences to the families of suicide bombers, and any associated mosque they may belong to, there might be a huge drop in this cowardly scummy practice… I say, arrest and imprison any family member and dismantle any Mosque associated with suicide bombers….
paperpushermj
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:53pmThe Blood Gods appetite grows stronger with every passing day.
Report Post »Cobra Blue
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 2:16pmJustAnAmerican
You are so right. Until the Mooslems experience consequences to their actions this will never ever begin to stop. This is a war and we should fight it as such. But no! Everytime it happens in America the liberal media is immediately searching for what WE have done wrong to provoke the attack. News Flash! American’s EXIST…What other reason is there? Can you say Infidels bots and girls..
Report Post »RobertCA
Posted on January 2, 2011 at 2:56pmMy prayers to the fallen innocent victims & we all know that this is just the beginning of more attacks on Christians from these low life extremist muslims .
Report Post »GOD help them cause there’s no one to help or protect the Christians in the Middle East .
racialcoward
Posted on January 3, 2011 at 9:35amEGYPTIAN MOSLEMS ARE IN NIGHT CLUBS DRINKING BEER AND ALCHOL IN SIGHT OF MOSQUES.
Worshiping Christians are being bombed in their churchs as Moslems drink, and committ vial sins against Allah. Allah will use Isreal to punish his un-faithful Moslem. If I were Moslem, I would be terrified of what Allah will do to punish his believers.
Report Post »MrMac
Posted on January 4, 2011 at 12:20pmAnd what they want more than anything is for us to turn the other cheek… they will take advantage of this and kill, and terrorize in the name of Islam… nuke Ramadan… let Satan sort em out.
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