ISIS has claimed responsibility for two church bombings in Egypt that have claimed the lives of at least 43 people and wounded over 100 more.
A church in Alexandria was bombed on Sunday, the second church to be attacked in Egypt in a matter of hours.
Egypt’s Health Ministry stated that an explosion at a church in the coastal city of Alexandria has killed 11 people, and wounded at least 35 others.
An Egyptian policeman reportedly prevented the suicide bomber from entering the church, dying while saving many lives. Another policeman is reportedly among the casualties.
This is the second Islamic terror attack targeting Egypt’s Coptic Christians after a bomb in a church in the Nile Delta town of Tanta killed 27 people and wounded more than 70.
The explosion went off at Saint Mark’s Church in Alexandria, where Pope Tawadros II had earlier celebrated Palm Sunday and left just ahead of the attack.
The Islamic State (ISIS) terror group has claimed responsibility for both attacks.
An ISIS affiliate based in the Sinai Peninsula claimed an attack on a Cairo church in December that killed around 30 people, and vowed more attacks on Christians.
Pope Francis decried the deadly attack, which occurred just weeks before his planned visit to Cairo.
The pontiff expressed his “deep condolences to my brother, Pope Tawadros II, the Coptic church and all of the dear Egyptian nation,” and said he was praying for the dead and wounded in the attack.
Word of the bombing came as Francis himself was marking Palm Sunday in St. Peter’s Square.
The pontiff asked God “to convert the hearts of those who spread terror, violence and death, and also the hearts of those who make, and traffic in, weapons.”
The pope’s remarks on the church attack were handed to him on a piece of paper after he remembered the victims of the Islamic attack in Stockholm on Friday night.
Israel sent its condolences to Egypt following the deadly bombings. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated it wishes a speedy recovery to the wounded. “The world has to come together and fight terrorism everywhere,” the statement said.
By: World Israel News Staff
AP contributed to this report.