iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — ISIS is claiming responsibility for two attacks on churches in Egypt that were packed for Palm Sunday services.
The two bombings in packed churches on Palm Sunday killed at least 37 people and injured around 100.
The first bomb went off at a Coptic Christian church in the Nile Delta town of Tanta, killing at least 26 people and wounding over 70.
Another bomb exploded hours after at Saint Mark’s Cathedral in the coastal city of Alexandria.
ISIS claimed the attacks via its news agency, after having recently warned that it would step up attacks on Egypt’s Christians.
The blasts came at the start of Holy Week leading up to Easter, and just weeks before Pope Francis is due to visit the Arab world’s most populous country.
CBC TV showed footage from inside the church in Tanta, where a large number of people gathered around what appeared to be lifeless, bloody bodies covered with papers. Regional Deputy Health Minister Mohammed Sharshar confirmed the toll.
Pope Francis decried the bombings, expressing “deep condolences to my brother, Pope Tawadros II, the Coptic church and all of the dear Egyptian nation.” Word of the attacks came as Francis himself was marking Palm Sunday in St. Peter’s Square.
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