Botroseya Church bombing
On 11 December 2016, a suicide bomber killed 29 people and injured 47 others at St. Peter and St. Paul's Church (commonly known as El-Botroseya Church[6]), a chapel next to Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope, in Cairo's Abbasia district. Egypt's President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi identified the bomber as 22-year-old Mahmoud Shafiq Mohammed Mustafa, who had worn a suicide vest. el-Sisi reported that three men and a woman have been arrested in connection with the attack; two others are being sought. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.[7][8][9]
Bombing[edit]
The explosion occurred at around 10:00 am on 11 December 2016 in Cairo's Abbassia district.[10] The MENA news agency initially reported that an assailant had planted a device in a chapel near the church compound's premises. Security officials did not know at that time whether it was a suicide bombing or a remotely activated device, which they believed would have been a large one.[11]
The device reportedly contained 12 kilograms (26 lb) of TNT.[12] An unnamed church source told a Nile TV reporter that the bomb was thrown inside the cathedral's hall, adjacent to the entrance of the building.[13]
St Mark's Cathedral is constantly patrolled by security personnel. While security officials did not know the bomber's gender,[11] some media organizations speculated that the assailant was a woman since most victims were women and children.[12]
Perpetrators[edit]
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on 12 December, identified the bomber as 22-year-old Mahmoud Shafiq Mohammed Mustafa.[18] el-Sisi reported that three men and a woman have been arrested in connection with the attack; two others are being sought. On 13 December, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility in Amaq News Agency.[19] However, an Interior Ministry official, police Maj. Gen. Tarek Attia, said that the suicide bomber had been arrested in 2014 in Fayoum province, southwest of Cairo, on charges of being a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.[18]
Mahmoud Shafiq Mohamed Mostafa, the man identified by Egyptian authorities as the perpetrator of the St. Peter and St. Paul church bombing was reportedly arrested in 2014 in Hawatem Square in Fayoum along with a colleague, according to lawyer Yasmine Hossam al-Din, who represented him at the time.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced that Mostafa bombed the Cairo church on Sunday using an explosive belt, in his speech at the official state funeral for the victims of the explosion on Monday afternoon.
Hossam al-Din, who represented Mostafa during his trial in 2014, said he happened to be in the vicinity of a Muslim Brotherhood protest in Fayoum when he was arrested and subsequently charged with protesting without a permit, arms possession and joining a banned group.
Mostafa was reportedly subjected to severe torture during his interrogations, resulting in a broken nose, according to Hossam al-Din.
A year after his arrest, in May 2015, the prosecution dropped charges of arms possession and joining a banned organization, but upheld accusations of protesting without a permit, meaning the case was categorized as a misdemeanor rather than a felony. Fayoum Criminal Court, headed by Atef Rizk, ordered his release in 2015, after Mostafa exceeded the maximum 6-month pretrial detention period for misdemeanors.
Security forces later arrested Mostafa’s colleague, according to Hossam al-Din, and detained him pending investigations into another case in Beni Suef..[20]
The Egyptian Interior Ministry produced a statement asserting that the Cairo attack was organized and carried out by terrorists led by Mohab Mostafa El-Sayed Kassem, which the Ministry said had links to Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, also known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Sinai Province. The ministry claimed that Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood fugitives in Qatar had provided financing and logistical support. However, both the Muslim Brotherhood and the government of Qatar have denied that they had any role in the bombing.[21]
Mustafa once visited Qatar on 3 December 2015 but headed back to Cairo on 1 February 2016. He had never been detained by Qatari authorities.[22]
By early 2017 eight suspects had been arrested for the bombing.[23]
Reactions[edit]
Egyptian[edit]
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Egyptian President, said "Vicious terrorism is being waged against the country's Copts and Muslims. Egypt will emerge stronger and more united from this situation." Sisi also declared a national period of mourning for three days.[24]
Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria sought to heal any sectarian friction caused by the attack, saying it "is not just a disaster for the Church but a disaster for the whole nation."[25] Tawadros cut short his trip to Greece and arrived in Cairo that evening.[26]
Bishop Youssef of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States issued a press release saying the church would be fasting and praying "not for the martyrs" but for the healing of the Egyptian people and for Muslims and Christians to live peacefully together.[27]
On 12 December President Sisi and Coptic Pope Tawadros led the funeral procession, after the Coptic Pope officiated over the funeral.[28]
Egyptian journalist and talk show host, Amr Adib, interviewed survivors and interviewed the doctors who reconstructed the bomber's face from the pieces that were left at the scene. Doctors described and showed the bomber's head, in graphic detail, even lifting it and opening and closing his mouth, and showed how they had to stuff his head with cotton because it was empty. They explained to the On Ent channel TV audience what can be accomplished through DNA analysis.[29][30]
Azza Radwan Sedky, an Egyptian academic who wrote Cairo Rewind about the Egyptian Revolution, wrote "An Open Letter to a Suicide Bomber" saying: