Yesterday's attacks on two Coptic Orthodox Churches were heartbreaking. The boards of the Center for Arab-West Understanding (CAWU) in Egypt and the Arab-West Foundation (AWF) in the Netherlands call the terrorist attacks on Coptic Orthodox Churches in Tanta [Ṭānṭā] and Alexandria [Al-Iskandariyyah] evil and offer their condolences to families and friends of the victims. The Dutch organization Kerk in Actie (Church in Action), a partner of CAWU and AWF, responded to the attack with a statement calling for:

“prayer for the injured and for the families of the victims, for the churches in Egypt, their members, their leaders, for His Holiness Pope Tawadros [Tawāḍrūs], and for Egypt -Muslims and Christians alike, facing this terrible evil, claimed by the ruthless organization of the Islamic State. The attacks lay a dark shadow over the intended visit of the Roman Pope to Egypt. We pray for you. Let us stand together as people of peace, followers of Christ, the risen Lord.”

Both attacks took place on Palm Sunday, the beginning of the Holy Week, the holiest week in the year that is leading up to Good Friday and Easter. Palm Sunday church services are always well attended. In the St. George Church in Tanta, some 2000 worshippers had come together for the observances. The attacks also comes just weeks before the planned visit of Pope Francis to Egypt.

 The first attack occurred at 10:00 am in St. George Church, leaving 27 people dead and 78 wounded. According to Egyptian State TV, an explosive device had been planted under a front-row seat in the main prayer hall. The mass was broadcasted on Egyptian TV.

A few hours later a suicide bomber tried to enter St. Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria but was not able to get through the metal detector. This is where he detonated the explosives which according to AhramOnline, left 18 dead and 41 injured. Among the dead were policeman Ahmed Ibrahim[Aḥmad Ibrāhīm], Brigadier General Nagwa El-Haggar [Najwā al- Ḥajjār], and Emad El-Rakiby [ʿAmād al-Rikābī], the head of the investigation department of Atarin [ʿAṭārīn] district in Alexandria where the church is situated. These three individuals have prevented the suicide bomber from entering the church and creating even more havoc. General Nagwa El-Haggar, notably, is the first Egyptian female police officer killed in the line of duty. These three noble souls are, therefore, the heroes of the dark day. The attack took place after Pope Tawadros had ended church service.  The Pope is unharmed.

The attacks are similar to the attack on the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, near the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo on December 11, 2016, in which 29 people, mostly women and children, were killed while 47 others were injured.  This was during Advent season and also a highly attended church service.

In January and February, extremists had killed several Coptic Christians in el-Arish [al-ʿArīsh], a town in Northern-Sinai, forcing hundreds of Christians to leave this coastal city.

Responses

Amaq [Aʿamāq] News Agency, related to the so-called “Islamic State”, has claimed the attack and promised more attacks on Coptic Christians.

President al-Sisi [ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ as-Sīsī], Grand Shaykh Ahmad al-Tayib [Aḥmad aṭ-Ṭayyib] and numerous others denounced the attacks in no uncertain words. Egyptian Prime Minister Chérif Ismaïl [Sharīf Ismāʿīl] said the Egyptian state is determined to exterminate such terrorism at its origin.

The UN Security Council, US President Trump. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Pope Francis, Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, and many others political and religious leaders all sharply condemned the attack.

There is no question that the attacks are widely denounced by the overwhelming majority of Muslims.

Coptic activist Mina Thabet [Mīnā Thābit] in an interview with Dutch NOS news, expressed his unhappiness about the way Egyptian authorities respond to extremism. Harsh responses in the past have resulted in many collateral victims, thus pushing others into extremism, he said.

Later in the day President Al-Sisi said he will impose a countrywide state of emergency for three months, "once legal and constitutional measures are completed." The president also announced the formation of the Supreme Council to Combat Terrorism and Extremism, however laws governing this body still need to be issued. One of the tasks of the Council will be to amend the religious discourse and extremist ideas in the country.

Analysis

The bomb attacks show security provisions need to be improved. The planting of bomb under a seat in the church in Tanta shows security was certainly insufficient here. Security at the St. Mark’s Cathedral was alert. The suicide bomber was not able to get through the security check but was nevertheless able to claim many victims. It is no doubt very difficult to provide full security with thousands of people flocking to a church for worship. Security has improved in the past years, with security asking many churches to place cameras at key locations and metal detectors at the entrance of many major churches. However, when numbers of attendees swell, this becomes difficult in many churches.

The attacks had a political motivation. Pope Tawadros is widely seen as staunch supporter of President al-Sisi who has been the main person behind the toppling of Islamist President Muhammad Morsi [Muḥammad Mursī] on July 3, 2013. This removal came after the country had been deeply divided between Islamists and non-Islamists resulting in mass demonstrations against Morsi. Of course, early elections would have been much better but the Muslim Brothers were not ready for that. The background of what happened in this period has been described in a recently published book “From Ruling to Opposition; Islamist Movements and Non-Islamist Groups in Egypt 2011-2013,” Tectum Academic Publishers, March 2017. The book was written by researchers at the Center for Arab-West Understanding and edited by me.

Tensions and violence increased after Morsi had been toppled. Al-Sisi was elected president and embarked on a program of economic recovery. A major Brotherhood leader clearly stated in 2014 they did not want him to succeed. This is evident in the events that followed. Violence was initially mainly directed against the police and military personnel, however later targets also included senior judges and prominent Coptic churches.

This explains the political motivations behind the attack. The so-called Islamic state would like to install fear in Egypt’s Christians so that they will leave Egypt as they were earlier able to make Christians of el-Arish leave their city. Christian emigration is indeed substantially higher than that of Muslim emigration. The percentage of Christians in Egypt is indeed declining.

Cornelis Hulsman,

Deputy Chairman of the Center for Arab-West Understanding

PS 1 Our Chair Eng. Sawsan Gabra Ayoub Khalil’s mother had passed away in Canada. She went to Canada for the funeral of her mother and is currently flying to the Netherlands and could not be consulted for this text

PS 2 We are trying to adhere to academic standards for the transliteration of names. For this reason you find the name in the common spelling and between brackets in transliteration. Transliteration helps us to know how names are spelled in Arabic and helps with the standardization in the spellings of Arabic names.