Vatican City - Pope Francis will visit Egypt as planned this month despite the weekend bombings of two Coptic Christian churches that killed 44 people, a Vatican official said.
There is anger in Tanta at the perceived lax security.
El-Sissi's call for a three-month state of emergency has been approved by Egypt's cabinet and will come into effect across the country on Monday at 1pm.
Across the street, neighbor Susan Mikhail, whose apartment has a clear balcony view of the church and its front yard, said the explosion violently shook her building midmorning, at a time when the church was packed.
In a separate incident, at least 17 people were killed and 41 others wounded in a suicide bomb attack outside St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria.
ISIL (Daesh) has said it was behind the explosions on Palm Sunday which left almost 50 dead and over 100 injured. Several TV channels broadcast footage of wailing mourners as caskets marked with the word "martyr" were brought into the Mar Amina church in Alexandria.
Protesters enter Paraguay parliament after vote on presidential terms
Many Paraguayans are in favour of re-election eventually being passed via a gradual, deliberative constitutional reform. Confrontations over the weekend escalated with protesters storming the building and setting fire to furniture and paper.
The man then passed a female police officer chatting to another woman, and entered a metal detector before an explosion engulfed the area. The religion claims to have about 15 million members among Egypt's 80 million people. But it has been unable to seize population centres, unlike its early gains in Iraq and Syria, and it has also lost top militants to Egyptian military strikes in recent months.
Coptic churches are scattered across the USA, with more than 20 in New Jersey alone.
The group recently released a video vowing to step up attacks against Christians, who it describes as "infidels" empowering the West against Muslims. Bombs exploded at two Coptic churches in the northern Egyptian cities of Tanta and. Don't judge people by what they wear. "It is a disturbing development because it indicates we have the possibility of repeated and continued attacks against soft targets".
Pope Francis denounced the bombings Sunday and expressed "his deep condolences" to Tawadros II and "all of the dear Egyptian nation".
A new anti-terrorism body will be staffed at the highest level and be able to take whatever action is needed to "adjust the whole situation, whether it's related to the media, the judiciary, legal and religious discourse", he said.
"We hereby express our condolences to the families and relatives of the victims and offer our direct assistance to the Coptic community", the statement said.
Comments