Egypt's civil & religious leaders condemn attack

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The various news agencies are reporting that Egypt's civil and religious leaders are condemning the New Year's Eve suicide bombing of a Coptic Church which killed 21 people and wounded a reported 100 others. The attack happened with 30 minutes of 2011.

Pope Shenouda III joined with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa and the Egyptian government's Minister for Religious Affairs, Mahmud Hamdi Zaqzuq at a press conference condemning the attack.
Egypt's President, Hosni Mubarak claims that he's track down the attackers and called for unity in the nation. He said that the attack was against Egyptians, not just Christians "by foreign elements."

At this writing, UK's Guardian is reporting that 17 have been arrested in connection with this attack. Again, at the moment, no one has taken responsibility for the attack though some are pointing figures to Al-Qaida.

Bishop William Kyrillos Kamal Samaan, OFM, 64, the Coptic Catholic Bishop of Assiut (a diocese in central Egypt) said the attack was "predictable" since threats have been on the increase even with government involvement in securing various churches.

Other Middle East leaders, for example, King Mohammed VI of Morocco have said that the attack was a "crime against all of humanity" and "is banned by the values of Islam."

Coptic Christians number around 10% of a 82 million population and are the largest Christian Church in the Arab world.

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Paul A. Zalonski is from New Haven, CT. He is a member of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, a Catholic ecclesial movement and an Oblate of Saint Benedict. Contact Paul at paulzalonski[at]yahoo.com.

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This page contains a single entry by Paul Zalonski published on January 2, 2011 2:26 PM.

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