In Egypt, church-bombing probe focuses on hard-liners

Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt

Egyptian police are focusing their investigation into the New Year’s suicide bombing of a church on a group of Islamic hard-liners inspired by al-Qaida and based in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria where the attack killed 21 people, security officials said Sunday.

The bombing touched off riots and protests by Egypt’s Christian minority, who feel they are targeted and discriminated against and do not get adequate protection from authorities. There were signs of beefed up security outside churches nationwide, and dozens returned to pray Sunday in the bombed, blood-spattered Saints Church — many of them sobbing, screaming in anger and slapping themselves in grief.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on Coptic Christians leaving a midnight Mass about a half-hour into the new year Saturday, the worst attack on Egyptian Christians in a decade. In the immediate aftermath, President Hosni Mubarak blamed foreigners, and the Alexandria governor accused al-Qaida, pointing to threats against Christians by the terror network’s branch in Iraq.

But Sunday, security officials said police are looking at the possibility that homegrown Islamic extremists were behind it and perhaps inspired by al-Qaida though not directly under foreign command.

Investigators also were examining lists of air passengers who arrived recently in Egypt from Iraq because al-Qaida in Iraq threatened Christians in both countries. They said they are looking for any evidence of an al-Qaida financier or organizer who may have visited Egypt to recruit the bomber and his support team from militants.

Investigators were also examining two heads found at the site on suspicion that at least one was the bomber’s, state news agency MENA reported.

Egypt’s government has long insisted that al-Qaida does not have a significant presence in the country.

Egypt does, however, have a rising movement of Islamic hard-liners who, though they do not advocate violence, adhere to an ideology similar in other ways to al-Qaida.

The attack served to heighten tensions that have been growing in recent years between Christians and Muslims. Those tensions were on display in Cairo on Sunday, where about 2,000 riot police were deployed outside the city’s landmark TV-and-radio building as scores of protesters carrying large wooden crosses marched nearby but never made it to the building.