CAIRO - Egypt's Interior Minister Habib el-Adly said on Sunday that the Army of Islam, a militant Palestinian group linked to al-Qaeda, was behind the New Year's church attack in the coastal city of Alexandria that killed 23 Copts. The Gaza-based group has praised the attack but denied involvement.
Gaza militant group blamed for church blast:
"If elements of the Palestinian Army of Islam, linked to al-Qaeda, thought they had hidden behind elements that were recruited, we have a decisive proof of their heinous involvement in planning and carrying out such a villainous terrorist act," el-Adly said in a speech to mark Police Day.
As he took the floor, President Hosni Mubarak congratulated the police "for finding the perpetrators of the terrorist act in Alexandria".
"This is a new award on the chest of Egyptian police. The arrest of those perpetrators will comfort all Egyptians," Mubarak told the same ceremony held in Cairo. Egyptian officials had suspected an al-Qaeda-inspired bomber was behind the blast that ripped through a crowd outside the Al-Qiddissein (Two Saints) Church in Alexandria, angry prompting protests by Christians, who claimed the State authorities had not done enough to protect them.
An Iraq-based al Qaeda group had called for attacks on Egypt's Coptic Christians, who make up one tenth of the population, before the Alexandria bombing.
In a swift response, the Palestinian Army of Islam, a newly founded group that was established in 2006, denied any involvement in the deadly attack.
"The Army of Islam has no relation, whether close or distant, to the attack on the Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt," a spokesman for the group, who gave his name as Abu Muthanna, told AFP.
"The Mossad (Israeli intelligence) was responsible for the attack." The Army of Islam played a part in a cross-border attack in 2006 in the Gaza Strip in which Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was abducted. The group later cut relations with Hamas, the Islamist group which controls Gaza, and has clashed with it.
On January 1, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Alexandria church as worshippers emerged from a New Year's Eve mass, killing 24 and injuring dozens.
Addressing senior officials and members of the police force, Mubarak said the attack had tried to target Egypt's unity and firmly rejected foreign calls for the protection of the country's Christians as "interference." "We will not allow terrorism to shake our stability and horrify our people or attack the unity of Muslims and Copts," Mubarak said.
"Egypt's security and stability are targeted." Sectarian tensions often flare over issues such as building churches or romantic relationships between members of both religions.
"The latest attack in Alexandria, represents a pitiful attempt to bring (terrorism) back to Egypt".
No to foreign pressure Mubarak again spoke out against foreign interference in Egypt, amid mounting international pressure on Egypt to provide more security for the country's Christian minority.
"I say to those, some from friendly countries, who call for the protection of Copts of Egypt, I say to them that the time for foreign protection and tutelage is gone, and will not return forever," Mubarak said.
"We will not accept any pressure or interference in Egypt's affairs," he said. Coptic Christians, he said, were "Egyptians and protection of the Egyptians - all Egyptians - is our responsibility and our duty".
Various countries and organizations, including Pope Benedict XVI of the Vatican, have urged the Egyptian Government to provide more security for Christians following the bomb attack on the church in Alexandria.
Egypt has been rocked by a spate of terrorist attacks between 2004 and 2006, targetting lucrative tourist destinations on the popular Red Sea coast of Sinai. No one has claimed responsibility for the Alexandria church attack. Egypt's Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said Sunday that debates that ran during a hearing session at the US Congress over conditions of Christians in Egypt and Iraq, included a host of "mistakes and inaccurate claims, circulated by enemies of Egypt inside the US administration".
"The Egyptian Church's response to this session was the best answer to foreign parties seeking to interfere in Egyptian internal affairs," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki was quoted by the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) as saying. Zaki commended, at the meantime, the understanding by European parliamentarians of the Egyptian persistence to confront terrorism.
