Horror: Palm Sunday attacks in Coptic churches kill dozens—UPDATED

The video above shows the moment when one of the blasts hit.

From CNN:

Bombs targeted two Coptic churches in Egypt as the Christian faithful observed Palm Sunday, one of the most important day on the religion’s calendar.

A powerful blast rippled through a Palm Sunday service at a Coptic Christian church in the northern Egypian city of Tanta, killing 25 people and wounding 60 others, state TV reported. The explosive device at St. George Coptic church in Tanta was planted under a seat in the church, where it detonated in the main prayer hall, it said.

At least two have been killed and 21 others wounded in a suicide bomb attack outside the Saint Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria according to two state-news outlets. Egyptian state media also reports that the head of Egypt’s Coptic Church Pope Tawadros II was inside the Church when the blast happened.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility.

Read on. 

Additional details from The New York Times: 

It comes weeks before Pope Francis is to visit Egypt, and a week before Easter.

Photos from the scene circulating on social media showed scenes of blood and devastation inside the Tanta church. Initial reports said that the explosion occurred in the pews near the front of the church, and that many of the dead were children.

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UPDATE: From the Times:

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for both attacks in a statement via its Aamaq news agency, having recently signaled its intention to escalate a campaign of violence against Egyptian Christians.

The first explosion occurred about 9:30 at St. George’s Church in the Nile Delta city of Tanta, 50 miles north of Cairo, during a Palm Sunday Mass. Security officials and a witness said that a suicide bomber had barged past security measures and detonated his explosives in the front pews, near the altar.

At least 27 people were killed and 71 others injured, officials said.

Hours later, a second explosion occurred at the gates of St. Mark’s Cathedral in the coastal city of Alexandria. That blast killed 13 people and wounded 21 others, the Health Ministry said.

…As forensic teams combed through the bloodstained wreckage of the church in Tanta, witnesses told of how a suicide bomber managed to slip through a side door where security officials had been checking congregants with a metal detector as they entered.

Several deacons, lay Christians who help with the service, were among the dead. Remon Emaad said the church had been on alert since the authorities discovered an explosive device nearby last week and defused it.