The observance of Easter in the Minya Coptic Orthodox archdiocese will be limited to liturgical services "without any festive manifestations" in mourning for the almost 45 Coptic Orthodox faithful who were killed in attacks on Sunday, the AP reports.
Police searched passersby and cars around Orthodox cathedral of St Mark's Cathedral in Cairo, the seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope, as beleagured Christians prepare for Easter Sunday.
A total of 45 people were killed in the two attacks, which were claimed by the Islamic State group.
Egypt's interior ministry said on Wednesday, April 12 it had identified the suicide bomber behind a deadly attack at the weekend outside a church in the coastal city of Alexandria, AFP reports.
Sunday's first bombing at the Mar Girgis church in Tanta, north of Cairo, killed 28 people.
On Wednesday, the interior ministry revealed the identity of the suicide bomber who carried out the attack at Saint Mark's Church in Egypt's Alexandria governorate on Sunday and killed 11 Christians and six Muslim police officers.
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Assad said Syria would only allow an "impartial" investigation into the poison gas incident. He said working groups would be established to improve U.S.
It said he was a member of a "terrorist" cell, and announced the arrest of three other members of the cell.
On Wednesday, it also offered a 100,000 Egyptian pound (S$7,700) reward for information leading to the arrest of suspects it said belonged to jihadist cells linked to the church attacks.
Egypt has beefed up security outside churches across the country ahead of Easter Sunday in an attempt to restore a sense of security for the country's Copts amid a war on the minority declared by ISIL.
Egyptian society was also profoundly shocked by the beheading in Libya of 20 Coptic Orthodox faithful and a companion by Islamic State militants in February 2015.
In the neighbouring city of Minya, home to the highest Coptic Christian population in the country, the Coptic Orthodox Diocese said celebrations would be limited to liturgical prayers "without any festive manifestations", in mourning for Sunday's victims.
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