Vigil to mourn victims of Cairo church bombing

CAIRO (REUTERS) - Scores of people held a vigil in Cairo on Saturday (Dec 17) denouncing an attack on a chapel adjoined to Egypt's main Coptic cathedral last week.

The explosion took place in a chapel, which adjoins St Mark's, Cairo's main cathedral and the seat of Coptic Pope Tawadros II, where security is normally tight.

The bomb killed at least 25 people and wounded 49, many of them women and children attending Sunday mass, in the deadliest attack on Egypt's Christian minority in years.

Protesters at the vigil denounced the attacker.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Monday (Dec 19) a suicide bomber carried out the attack, the deadliest on the Christian minority in years.

Speaking at a state funeral for the victims, Mr Sisi said four people had been detained, including a woman, and security forces were seeking two more people believed to be involved. "The bomber was a man wearing a suicide vest," he added.

The attack comes as Sisi fights battles on several fronts. His economic reforms have angered the poor, a bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has seen thousands jailed, whilst an insurgency rages in Northern Sinai, led by the Egyptian branch of Islamic State.

The militant group has also carried out deadly attacks in Cairo and has urged its supporters to launch attacks around the world in recent weeks as it goes on the defensive in its Iraqi and Syrian strongholds.