Egyptian Authorities Bust Terror Cell Targeting Alexandria Church for Suicide Bombing on Eid al-Fitr

Patrick Poole | 5:36 PM on June 24, 2017

The Egyptian Interior Ministry announced today that they had busted up a terror cell planning to bomb a church in Alexandria tomorrow on Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. The cell also was planning attacks on the fourth anniversary of the June 30 revolution that led to the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi.

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The Times of Israel reports:

Egyptian police said on Saturday they foiled a church bombing by arresting a cell including the would-be attackers, two months after suicide bombers killed dozens of church goers in two attacks.

Six members of the cell including two “suicide bombers” planning the attack on an Alexandria church were arrested in the Mediterranean city, the interior ministry said in a statement.

It said one attacker had planned to detonate an explosive vest inside the church and the other to blow himself up when police arrived to the scene.

Here are pictures of four of the six terror cell members arrested.

https://twitter.com/khairyatef12/status/878723515519774720

Just a month ago I reported here at PJ Media on the execution of 28 Coptic Christians by terrorists as they were on their way to make pilgrimage to a Coptic monastery in Minya province. Many of those murdered were women and children.

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The attack occurred just hours before the beginning of Ramadan.

Here are interviews with some of the survivors of the Minya bus attack last month:

One of the victims of the bus attack was Mohsen Morkous, an American from Tinley Park, Illinois:

That was the fourth mass killing targeting Coptic Christians in six months. The first was the suicide bombing of the Two Saints Church inside the cathedral compound in Cairo in December that eventually killed 29, all but one of whom were women and girls:

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Last month I reported on my visit to the church during my recent trip to Egypt:

In April two suicide bombers targeted churches in Alexandria and Tanta on Palm Sunday, killing 49 altogether:

An attack on a monastery near Assiut in Upper Egypt following the dual suicide bombings was thwarted by authorities:

A series of murders targeting Copts Sinai in February prompted most of the Christian community to flee to cities on the other side of the Suez Canal:

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Coptic Christians have been murdered throughout Egypt since the beginning of the year, beginning with a shop owner in Alexandria who had his throat slit for selling alcohol in his store:

Other killings targeting the Coptic community have occurred:

The Islamic State has threatened more attacks:

The Muslim Brotherhood has also incited more terror attacks targeting Christians:

But the Coptic Christian community also has to worry about sectarian attacks by locals, and sometimes their own neighbors:

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The sectarian attacks, mainly focused in Upper Egypt where most Christians live, occur regularly:

And can be set off sometimes for even the most benign causes:

Earlier this month, NPR reported from a village outside Minya where a number of Coptic men who had been beheaded by ISIS in Libya were from:

Families of those Coptic martyrs were targeted by attacks just weeks after their murders:

Egypt is a bellwether for Christians in the Middle East as there are more Christians living in Egypt than in the rest of the region combined.

The attacks have increased since 2011 and the beginning of the Arab Spring, and have escalated rapidly during the Muslim Brotherhood rule in 2012-2013. That culminated in the arson attacks on more than 70 churches and monasteries throughout Egypt in August 2013 by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood:

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With ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood under increasing pressure, attacks on the Coptic Christians are intended to destabilize the administration of Egyptian President Sisi.

Hopefully, the arrest of this terror cell is an indication that Egyptian authorities are getting a handle on rolling back this threat.

Patrick Poole
For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]

Patrick Poole is a national security and terrorism correspondent for PJMedia. Follow him on Twitter.
Category: HOMELAND SECURITY
Tags: HOMELAND SECURITY

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