Egyptian security forces inspect the scene of a bomb explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church on December 11, 2016, in Cairo鈥檚 Abbasiya neighborhood.聽The blast killed at least 25 worshipers during Sunday mass inside the Cairo church near the seat of the Coptic pope who heads Egypt鈥檚 Christian minority, state media said. AFP聽
CAIRO, Egypt 鈥� The Coptic Christians were in mid-prayer Sunday when the ear-splitting blast tore through their church in Egypt鈥檚 capital, spraying shrapnel into icon-covered walls and blowing out the tiled roof.
Witnesses said the smoke then cleared to reveal a tangle of splintered pews and body parts.
鈥淚t was terrifying. Things were falling down on us. I couldn鈥檛 get down from behind the altar because of the smoke,鈥� said church volunteer Tadros Zaki, 63.
鈥淭here were too many people. Destroyed, in pieces鈥� people on top of people,鈥� said Romany, who rushed to the church to help after the bombing.
搁贰础顿:听Bombing at Egypt鈥檚 main Coptic Christian cathedral kills 25
The health ministry said 23 people were killed and 49 wounded.
The focal point of the explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church appeared to have been just inside the entrance, on the side where the women sat.
A woman鈥檚 scarf, drenched in congealing blood, lay in the wreckage.
The stone recess above the door was peppered with shrapnel which also left holes in the marble floor. A pew that remained upright was soaked in blood.
Two nearby boxes, one that had been filled with written prayers left by worshippers and another that held a saint鈥檚 relics, were destroyed.
Dazed priests paced the arcaded courtyard, pieces of stained glass from the church鈥檚 windows crunching underfoot, as guards at the doors blocked a crush of journalists and concerned faithful.
One nun in a grey habit stared pensively at the wreckage.
鈥淕od will have a say in this,鈥� she decided.
Bishop Angaelos, the General Bishop for the Coptic Orthodox Church in Britain, told AFP by telephone that Saint Peter鈥檚 church was especially popular with parishioners.
鈥楤eyond comprehension鈥�
It is 鈥渄eeply loved by many Coptic faithful in Cairo and it has a regular parish presence鈥�, he said.
鈥淭he fact that they were targeted this way when they were going to pray is beyond comprehension.鈥�
Copts have been attacked before in Egypt, most notably in a suicide bombing that killed more than 20 congregants at an Alexandria church in 2011.
But Saturday鈥檚 attack hit close to the heart of the beleaguered minority鈥檚 faith.
The church is adjacent to Saint Mark鈥檚 Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic Christian papacy.
鈥淲hat are we to do? God will dispense our affairs,鈥� said Magdy, a church administrator whose office is at the other end of the courtyard from the blast site.
The explosion shattered his office windows, leaving his desk strewn with shards of glass.
Outside, a growing crowd of Copts began chanting against the government, and there were brief scuffles with riot police who cordoned off the scene.
鈥淭he people want the downfall of the regime!鈥� they chanted. 鈥淗ey, interior ministry! Where were you when they bombed the cathedral?鈥�
Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt鈥檚 90 million people, have suffered repeated attacks for decades.
They also attracted the wrath of Islamist extremists after the church, along with Muslim religious leaders, supported the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Mobs attacked scores of churches and Christian properties in August 2013 after police in Cairo killed hundreds of Islamists protesting against Morsi鈥檚 overthrow.聽CBB