Attack in the Church of St. Peter and Paul (Cairo)

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The Church of St. Peter and Paul (2010)

An attack in the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Cairo on December 11, 2016 killed 28 people and injured around 35 people. Initially, no one confessed to the attack. The organization " Islamic State " later called itself the originator.

An explosive device exploded during Sunday mass around 10 a.m. on December 11, 2016. At first it was unclear whether the bomb was thrown into the church of St. Peter and Paul from the outside or whether it exploded inside the building. Investigations revealed that a 22-year-old man with an explosive belt inside the church had blown himself up. According to the Islamic State terrorist militia, it was Abu Abdallah al-Masri, who acted on their behalf.

Most of the victims of the attack were women and children. The bomb is said to have contained about 12 kg of TNT .

Two days after the attack, authorities arrested four suspects.

The Church of St. Peter and Paul is adjacent to the central St. Mark's Cathedral . St. Mark's Cathedral, one of the largest Christian churches in Cairo, is the seat of the Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church . It stands in the center of the Egyptian capital. At the time of the attack, Tawadros II was Patriarch of the Coptic Church.

background

The Copts are the largest Christian denomination in the Middle East ; in Egypt they make up about ten percent of the 90 million inhabitants. The Christian minority was repeatedly exposed to violent attacks , especially in smaller towns and villages in Upper Egypt it was commonplace in 2016. Christian churches and institutions in Egypt are protected by state security forces. Since taking office, the head of state Abd al-Fattah as-Sisi has justified the suppression of opposition activists, media and civil rights activists by stating that only rigid measures could maintain security in Egypt and expressly presented himself as the patron saint of Christians in the country. Pope Tawadros II demonstratively stood behind Sisi when he removed the elected Islamist President Mohammed Morsi from office in 2013 . In the weeks after Morsi's fall , radical Islamists burned Christian churches and businesses across Egypt.

The attack in Cairo is the worst on a church in Egypt since 2011. At that time, more than 20 people were killed on New Year's Day when a bomb exploded in a church in Alexandria. The ARD correspondent Volker Schwenck pointed out that the Egyptian branch of the Islamic State had so far mainly attacked the Egyptian military and the police. Attacks on the Coptic minority might now be imminent.

Reactions

Copts spontaneously demonstrated after the attack for more security. The Egyptian Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar visited the attack site on the same day. He had to face a storm of insults and calls for resignation from Copts who were present. Protesters prevented him from entering the church building.

After the attack on the church, President Sisi proclaimed a three-day state mourning . The celebrations for the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad should only take place in a limited form. He said: “The terror is directed against the Copts and Muslims in our country. Egypt will emerge from this situation more united and stronger ”.

As a result, Coptic Christians commemorated the victims of the attacks in several cities in Germany.

On March 2, 2017, Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the site of the attack on her trip to Egypt and laid a flower in the cathedral to commemorate the victims.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Blast near Cairo Coptic cathedral kills at least 22. In: www.bbc.com. Accessed December 11, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Blast inside Cairo's Coptic cathedral kills at least 20, injures 35. Reuters, accessed December 11, 2016 .
  3. ↑ مصر: 25 قتيلا و 35 جريحا بانفجار قرب كاتدرائية العباسية في القاهرة. CNN Arabic, December 11, 2016, accessed December 11, 2016 (Arabic).
  4. ^ Egypt: 25 killed by bomb blast at St Mark's Cathedral. In: www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved December 11, 2016 .
  5. ↑ tagesschau.de: 25 dead in an explosion in the cathedral in Cairo. In: tagesschau.de. Retrieved December 11, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Bomb attack near Cairo Coptic cathedral kills at least 25 . In: BBC News . December 11, 2016 ( bbc.com [accessed December 11, 2016]).
  7. ↑ tagesschau.de: IS is committed to attack on church in Cairo. In: tagesschau.de. Retrieved December 23, 2016 .
  8. ↑ a b c Attacks in Egypt: At least 25 dead in an attack on Coptic Cathedral in Cairo . In: sueddeutsche.de . ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed December 11, 2016]).
  9. ^ A b SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: Terror in Cairo: Attack on the heart of the Copts in Egypt. In: SPIEGEL ONLINE. Retrieved December 11, 2016 .
  10. ↑ tagesschau.de: Sisi: Attack "against Christians and Muslims" alike. In: tagesschau.de. Retrieved December 12, 2016 .
  11. ↑ tagesschau.de: Volker Schwenck, ARD Cairo, on the explosion in a Coptic cathedral in Cairo. In: tagesschau.de. Retrieved December 11, 2016 .
  12. ^ A b SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: Terror in Cairo: Attack on the heart of the Copts in Egypt. In: SPIEGEL ONLINE. Retrieved December 11, 2016 .
  13. ↑ Höxter - Copts in Germany remember the attack in Cairo . In: Deutschlandfunk . ( deutschlandfunk.de [accessed December 23, 2016]). Höxter - Copts in Germany remember attack in Cairo ( Memento of the original from December 23, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.deutschlandfunk.de
  14. ↑ Verlagsgruppe Rhein Main GmbH & Co. KG: Coptic Orthodox Congregation and Christians commemorate the terror victims of Cairo at a funeral service in Mombach Church . ( Allgemeine-zeitung.de [accessed on December 23, 2016]).
  15. ↑ Merkel's visit to Egypt - it was the most moving moment of her trip! In: BILD.de . ( bild.de [accessed on March 6, 2017]).

Coordinates: 30 ° 4 ′ 20 ″  N , 31 ° 16 ′ 32.5 ″  E