ALEXANDRIA: A powerful bomb, possibly from a suicide attacker, exploded in front of a Coptic Christian church as a crowd of worshippers emerged from a New Year's Mass early Saturday, killing at least 21 people and wounding nearly 80 in an attack that raised suspicions of an Al-Qaeda role. The attack came in the wake of threats by Al-Qaeda militants in Iraq to attack Egypt's Christians. In heavy clashes Saturday afternoon, crowds of Christian youths in the streets outside the church and a neighboring hospital hurled stones at riot police, who opened fire with rubber bullets and tear gas. Nearly 1,000 Christians were attending the New Year's Mass at the Saints Church in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, said Father Mena Adel, a priest at the church. The service had just ended, and some worshippers were leaving the building when the bomb went off about half-an-hour after midnight, he said. “The last thing I heard was a powerful explosion and then my ears went deaf,” Marco Boutros, a 17-year-old survivor, said from his hospital bed. “All I could see were body parts scattered all over – legs and bits of flesh.” Health Ministry official Osama Abdel-Moneim said the death toll stood at 21, with 79 wounded. Police initially said the blast came from an explosives-packed vehicle parked about four meters from the church. But the Interior Ministry said later it was likely the blast was detonated by a suicide bomber and that the attack probably involved “foreign elements.” 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 attackers are hallmark tactics of Al-Qaeda. Hours after the blast, Mubarak went on state TV and vowed to track down those behind the attack, 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 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. GCC, OIC condemn bombing The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has condemned Saturday's fatal bombing of a church in Alexandria, Egypt, describing it as a “cowardly terrorist operation”. “It put the lives and safety of innocent people in danger and terrified people's security,” a source at the GCC Secretariat General said. A source at the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, meanwhile, echoed those of the GCC. “The Kingdom utterly condemns this criminal act which finds no approval from our Islamic religion or traditions or international morals,” an official said. The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) also condemned “in the strongest terms” the bombing of the Saints Church.
