Church attack done by suicide bomber: Egypt’s al-Sisi

By Khaled al-Jayoushi and Omar Thabet

CAIRO

A deadly explosion that tore through a Cairo church on Sunday was caused by a suicide bomber and not by a bomb planted in the church as was previously believed, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said.

Al-Sisi made the assertion at a funeral ceremony held Monday for the 23 people killed in the bombing, which targeted St. Peter’s Church in central Cairo.

The president identified the suicide bomber as 22-year-old Mahmoud Shafiq Mohammed Mustafa, going on to say that "three men and a woman" had since been arrested for suspected links to the bombing.

Earlier Monday, the Egyptian presidency announced that al-Sisi, at a morning security briefing, had vowed to "take vengeance" on the perpetrators of the attack.

In a related development Monday, two groups designated as "terrorist organizations" by the Egyptian government -- Hasm and Liwaa al-Thawra -- denied any link to the deadly church attack, according to statements issued by both groups.

Hasm and Liwaa al-Thawra emerged following Egypt’s 2013 military coup, which saw Mohamed Morsi -- the country’s first freely elected president -- ousted and imprisoned.

Since then, the two groups have claimed responsibility for a handful of attacks on Egyptian security personnel.

On Sunday, a bomb went off inside St. Peter’s Church in central Cairo.

St. Peter’s is located adjacent to St. Mark’s Cathedral, which serves as the seat of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church and the papal residence.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack, which also left dozens of people injured.