On Palm Sunday, 9 April 2017, twin suicide bombings took place at St. George's Church in the northern Egyptian city of Tanta on the Nile delta, and Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, the principal church in Alexandria, seat of the Coptic papacy. At least 45 people were reported killed and 126 injured. Amaq News Agency said the attacks were carried out by a security detachment of ISIS.
Background
In February 2017, ISIS called for attacks on Christians, and during the Sinai insurgency, hundreds of Christians fled their homes in the North Sinai after a "concerted campaign of assassination and intimidation". The bombings occurred under President (and former general) Abdel Fattah el-Sisi who has emphasized national security during his rule, and who recently returned from a trip to the United States to visit President Donald Trump, a trip widely regarded as successful and as a confirmation of the US administration's support for Sisi's fight against ISIS.
Bombing
On Palm Sunday, 9 April 2017, an explosive device was detonated inside St. George's Church in the Nile Delta city of Tanta. According to eyewitnesses, as they were attending the Divine Liturgy, a man in a brown jacket rapidly charged toward the altar before detonating an explosive belt. This man, Mahmoud Mohamed Ali Hussein, is believed to have been in charge of both church bombings in Tanta and Alexandria. Video footage showed people assembled at the church, chanting the liturgy. The video rapidly changed to bars, as screams of terror and crying were heard in the background. A preliminary report by the prosecution determined that the bomb contained TNT, as well as large amounts of metallic screws and highly flammable substances.
Later at Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria, historical seat of the Coptic papacy, another device exploded near the cathedral's gates. The incident occurred minutes after Pope Tawadros II left the church to follow the developments of the Tanta bombing. The pope escaped unharmed. Conflicting reports emerged over the identity of the perpetrator. Egyptian television published a photo of a man who was stopped and interrogated near the entrance. The suspect reportedly detonated a suicide belt when members of the security force, assigned to this church, tried to arrest him. Other camera footage, however, showed a different man trying to pass through the metal detectors at the entrance, a few seconds before the bomb went off.
Casualties
The bombing in Alexandria killed 17 people and injured 48. In Tanta, 30 people were killed and 78 injured.
Aftermath
In Tanta, security forces sealed off all the streets leading to the church and set up emergency checkpoints, allowing bomb disposal experts to examine the church and cars parked in its surroundings for any remaining explosives. Egypt's interior minister, Magdy Abdel Ghaffar, Prosecutor-General, Nabil Sadek, and other government officials arrived at the scene shortly after the bombing. Forensic experts identified an unknown severed head as a possible suspect in the attack. Tanta's residents, who were demonstrating nearby, physically assaulted Major General Hossam el-Din Khalifa, head of the Gharbia's Security Directorate. Khalifa, along with other heads of security, were dismissed later that day by Abdel Ghaffar.
Three other explosive devices were dismantled by police. Two of them were left by an unknown individual in front of Sidi Abdel Rahim Mosque in Tanta, which contains a Sufi shrine. The other was in Alexandria's Collège Saint Marc.
State of emergency
On the same day, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi announced that a three-month state of emergency would be imposed. The attack was seen as underscoring the failure of Egypt's intelligence agencies to "anticipate a coordinated wave of attacks" and the difficulty of stopping suicide attacks, despite the "largely unfettered powers" of the President el-Sisi and his imprisonment and exiling of "thousands of political opponents".
The three-month state of emergency must be approved by the Parliament of Egypt. Following its approval, President El-Sisi would have the authority to increase the powers of the police in arrests, surveillance, and seizures. The state of emergency was continuously extended every three months since its inception until October 2021.
Responsibility
An online statement via the Amaq News Agency said, "A security detachment of the Islamic State carried out the attacks against the two churches in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria". The two Egyptian suicide bombers were named Abu Ishaq Al-Masri and Abu Al-Baraa Al-Masri.