Egypt back to state emergency

A Kirkland church has a painful connection to the Palm Sunday church bombings in Egypt that killed at least 44 people.

The first blast ripped through a Palm Sunday service at St. George's Church in Tanta.

"Let us pray for the victims of the attack unfortunately carried out today", he said. They may be quite far from a place many of them consider home, but on Sunday they were reminded that, in some ways, they're really quite close.

Andrew Boyd also said it was important the state of emergency isn't used to curb freedoms.

Parliament has seven days to approve or reject the state of emergency, but its approval is seen as a foregone conclusion since the legislature is packed with el-Sissi's supporters. The security forces have been put on alert in anticipation of more attacks, the Egyptian media reported. "It means that people will get trailed for no reason and arrested with no warrants, but what does it do for the future of Egyptians?"

A few hours later a security guard stopped a man at the entrance of St Marks Church in Alexandria, before he blew himself up.

"Security personnel of the church are usually familiar with members of the Coptic community regularly visiting the church; if they know me they will be embarrassed to ask me for identity documents", explained Emad Soliman, an eye witness to the attack in Tanta, who said he was right outside the church when the explosion occurred. "If there were, this wouldn't have happened", she said.

Copts in Egypt have faced persecution and discrimination that has spiked since the toppling of Hosni Mubarak's regime in 2011. In these attacks, like the previous ones, security experts argued that securing churches by the police is usually done from outside the churches and that church affiliated security personnel are in charge of searching people, in order to avoid any sensitive reactions.

"The leaders agreed that Bashar al-Assads use of chemical weapons against civilians, including women and children, was abhorrent and warranted a strong response from the worldwide community", the White House said. That explosion killed 30 worshippers and injured dozens. In December, a massive church bombing killed 30 people in Cairo, and a series of killings in the Sinai have caused hundreds to flee to safer areas. The group that makes up around 10 percent of the country's 82 million population has been repeatedly targeted in the past.

Pope Francis offered prayers for the victims. They base their theology on the teachings of the apostle Mark, who introduced Christianity to Egypt. Tanta is roughly 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Cairo, in the Nile delta. "The President also expressed his confidence in President Al Sisi's commitment to protect Christians and all Egyptians", the statement said after a Sunday phone call between the two leaders.