Egyptian Christians were burying their dead Monday, a day after ISIS suicide bombers killed at least 45 people in coordinated attacks targeting Palm Sunday services in two cities.
Women wailed as caskets marked with the word “martyr” were brought into the St. Mark’s Cathedral in the coastal city of Alexandria, where Coptic priests and boy scouts joined the procession to mourn 17 victims.
Another suicide attack killed at least 28 people inside St. George’s Church in the Nile Delta city of Tanta, the Health Ministry said, updating an earlier toll.
The Rev. Danial Maher of the Tanta church lost his 23-year-old son, Beshoy, who was among six deacons killed.
“He was like an angel,” said Maher, who recalled watching his son wearing white vestments and singing at the service.
Images of Maher, sitting helplessly in blood-stained vestments after the attack, were widely circulated online.
Mourners also paid tribute to police officer Nagwa Abdel-Aleem, 55, who died while guarding the entrance to St. Mark’s Cathedral. The female cop refused to let the suicide bomber pass through her security check, so he detonated his device at the main gate instead, the Telegraph reported.
“Muslim police officer in a hijab lost her life defending Alexandria’s Coptic Cathedral,” one Twitter user wrote. “Don’t judge people by what they wear. Actions count.”
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has declared a state of emergency, amid fears that ISIS jihadists — who have long been battling security forces in the Sinai Peninsula — are shifting their focus to Egypt’s Coptic minority.
In December, a massive church bombing killed 30 people in Cairo, and several killings in the Sinai have caused hundreds to flee to safer areas.
Meanwhile, Israel closed its Taba border crossing to Egypt on Monday after a warning by its anti-terrorism services and intelligence reports of an “imminent” militant attack there.
The crossing was closed Monday morning, hours before the start of the Passover holiday, and is expected to reopen April 18 after a security assessment, the Times of Israel reported.
Moments after the closure, militants in the Sinai fired a rocket into Israel, where it struck a greenhouse in the southern community of Yuval in the Eshkol region, according to the Israeli Haaretz newspaper.
No injuries were reported after the Grad rocket attack, for which ISIS claimed responsibility through its affiliated Amaq news agency.
Transportation and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz ordered the border closing after a discussion with Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and other security officials, the Times of Israel reported.
“This was an intelligence-security decision that was made in light of information that indicated plans to carry out a terror attack against tourists by Daesh’s Sinai Province,” Katz said, using the Arabic nickname for ISIS.
About 10,000 Israelis, mostly from Arab towns, are believed to be vacationing in Sinai. They have been encouraged to immediately return to Israel, the Transportation Ministry said
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office sent condolences to families and victims affected by the church attacks, and called for a unified effort to tackle the threat of terrorism.
“The world has to come together and fight terrorism everywhere,” the statement read.
Egyptian authorities said seven ISIS militants who were plotting more attacks against Christians had been killed Monday during an operation in the southern city of Assiut.
The terror group has been using increasingly sophisticated strategies in Egypt — and ramping up its attacks against Christians in areas outside the Sinai Peninsula.
But Vatican officials said Pope Francis’ trip to Egypt at the end of the month is still on, although that could change if the security situation gets worse.
“We will have to keep our finger on the pulse of the situation until the very last minute,” a senior diplomatic source told Reuters.
With Post Wires
