Dozens killed in Egypt on Palm Sunday church attacks

ISIS has claimed responsibility for two separate Palm Sunday bombing attacks on Christian churches in Egypt killing at least 37 and injuring more than 100.The first blast happened at St. George church in the Nile Delta town of Tanta, where at least 26 people were killed and 71 others wounded, officials said.

Less than two months ago, ISIS released a video vowing to target Egyptian Christians, whom they called their “favorite prey,” showing images of a suicide bomber who killed nearly 30 people inside a packed Cairo church in December.

“God gave orders to kill every infidel,” one of the militants carrying an AK-47 assault rifle says in the 20-minute video.

In the latest attack, television footage showed the inside of the church, where a large number of people gathered around what appeared to be lifeless, bloody bodies covered with papers.

A second explosion was later reported at St. Mark’s Cathedral in the coastal city of Alexandria, leaving at least 11 dead and 35 injured. The attack came just after Pope Tawadros II – leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria – finished services, but aides told local media that he was unharmed.