Al-Qaeda linked to Egypt blast

A BOMB exploded in front of a Christian church in Egypt yesterday as a crowd of worshippers emerged from a New Year mass, killing at least 21 and wounding nearly 80 in a suspected al-Qaeda suicide attack.

Nearly 1,000 Christians were attending the mass at the Saints Church in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. The service had just ended, and some worshippers were leaving the building when the bomb went off about a half hour after midnight.

"The last thing I heard was a powerful explosion and then my ears went deaf," said 17-year-old Marco Boutros from his hospital bed. "All I could see were body parts scattered all over - legs and bits of flesh."

Blood splattered the facade of the church, as well as a mosque directly across the street. Bodies of many of the dead were collected from the street and kept inside the church overnight before they were taken away by ambulances for burial.

The country's health ministry said the death toll stood at 21, with 79 wounded. It was not immediately known whether all the victims were Christians. It is the deadliest violence involving Christians in Egypt since at least 20 people, mostly Christians, were killed in sectarian clashes in a southern town in 1999.

Police initially said that yesterday's blast came from an explosives-packed vehicle parked about four metres from the church.

But the interior ministry said later it was likely the bomb was detonated by a suicide bomber and that the attack probably involved "foreign elements". It said there was no sign the epicentre of the blast was a car. Six severely damaged vehicles remained outside the church, but there was no sign of the sort of crater usually created by car bombs.

The attack came in the wake of threats by al-Qaeda militants in Iraq to attack Egypt's Christians. A direct al-Qaeda hand in the bombing would be a dramatic development, as the government of President Hosni Mubarak has long denied that the terror network has a significant presence in the country. In Iraq, al-Qaeda has already been waging a campaign of violence against Christians in that country.

The bombing enraged Christians, who often complain of discrimination at the hands of Egypt's Muslim majority and accuse the government of covering up attacks on their community.

In heavy clashes after yesterday's blast, crowds of Christian youths in the streets outside the church and a neighbouring hospital hurled stones at riot police, who opened fire with rubber bullets and tear gas.

Egypt has seen growing tensions between its Muslim majority and Christian minority, and the attack raised new fears that al-Qaeda or militants sympathetic to it could be aiming to stoke sectarian anger or exploit it to gain a foothold.

Alexandria governor Adel Labib immediately blamed al-Qaeda, pointing to recent threats by the terror group to attack Christians in Egypt. Both car bombs and suicide attacks are hallmark tactics of al-Qaeda.

Whoever was behind it, the blast appeared different from past attacks on Christians. Most recent anti-Christian violence has involved less sophisticated means, mainly shootings.

Egypt faced a wave of Islamic militant violence in the 1990s, that peaked with a 1997 massacre of nearly 60 tourists at a Pharaonic temple in Luxor. But the government suppressed the insurgency with a fierce crackdown.

The last major terror attacks in Egypt were between 2004 and 2006, when bombings - including some by suicide attackers - hit three tourist resorts in the Sinai peninsula, killing 125 people. Those attacks raised fears of al-Qaeda involvment, but the governments strongly denied a connection.

Hours after the blast, Mubarak addressed the nation, vowing to track down those behind the attack and saying "we will cut off the hands of terrorists and those plotting against Egypt's security."

Aiming to prevent sectarian divisions, he said it was an attack against "all Egypt" and that "terrorism does not distinguish between Copt and Muslim". Egypt's top Muslim leaders also expressed their condolences and unity with Christians.

But Christians at the church unleashed their fury at authorities they often accuse of failing to protect them. Soon after the explosion, angry Christians clashed with police, chanting: "With our blood and soul, we redeem the cross," witnesses said. Some broke into the nearby mosque, throwing books into the street and sparking stone and bottle throwing clashes with Muslims.Police fired tear gas to break up the clashes.

Many Christians blame violence against their community on Islamic extremists. They accuse the government of blaming attacks on lone renegades or mentally ill people to avoid addressing what they call anti-Christian sentiment among Muslims. The mistrust of the government is so great that even the ministry's report that a suicide bomber was behind yesterday's blast raised suspicion among some Christians.

Christians, mainly Orthodox Copts, are believed to make up about 10 per cent of Egypt's mainly Muslim population of nearly 80 million people, and they have grown increasingly vocal in complaints 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 one person dead.