Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II attempted on Monday to reassure Egyptians after the recent attacks on Copts in North Sinai, stressing that the Coptic families that have fled the governorate out of fear of terrorist violence will return to the city "when the time is right." At the start of this month, the Coptic Orthodox Church announced that 143 Christian families had fled North Sinai to Ismailiya after a spate of killings of Christians by Islamist militants in the governorate.

Islamic State's branch in the Sinai Peninsula posted a video on Tuesday depicting the beheading of two men the militant Islamist group said it had found guilty of practicing witchcraft and sorcery. The video, posted on a Telegram channel often used by IS, showed the group forming a religious police unit known as the Hasbah in northern Sinai, where it has waged an insurgency for years. The rugged, thinly populated peninsula borders Israel, Gaza and the Suez Canal.

Islamic State-affiliate Province of Sinai released a promotional video on Tuesday showing members of the organization carrying out what it alleges to be Hisba, or religious policing. The group claimed the footage is from locations in North Sinai, which it did not identify. Hisba is defined by religious scholars as the practice of commanding virtue and forbidding vice, professor of Islamic law professor at Al-Azhar University Ahmed Kareema told the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper. He added that Hisba should be conducted by a select few who must be efficient, fair, knowledgeable and capable, describing it as a type of guardianship falling to those who have been entrusted with religious matters.

Pope Francis will visit Egypt as planned this month despite the weekend bombings of two Coptic Christian churches that killed 44 people, a Vatican official said. "There is no doubt the Holy Father will maintain his offer to go to Egypt" on April 28 and 29, Monsignor Angelo Becciu, the Holy See's number three, said in an interview published in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Monday.

Judicial sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm that investigations and DNA analysis results have revealed the identity of the perpetrators of the bombings of Tanta and Alexandria churches. The sources said that the preliminary information indicates that the suicide bomber who carried out the terrorist attack at Mar Girgis church in Tanta was named by the "Islamic State" (IS) militant group Abu Ishaq al-Masri.

Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church oversaw Monday the burial of seven victims of a suicide attack on St. Marks Cathedral in Alexandria that killed 17 people and injured dozens, Ahram Arabic website reported. Hundreds attended the funerals and the burial of the victims at Mir Mena (St Menos) Monastery in King Mariout on the outskirts of Alexandria governorate.

Pope Tawadros II dispatched a cable of condolences that was read during the funeral service of the victims of the St. Mark church bombing on Monday afternoon, at the monastery of Mar Mina, west of Alexandria. The Pope expressed his condolences to the families of the police victims, as well as to those of Christian worshippers, saying that they died on Palm Sunday, coinciding with a festival of joy and celebration in the church.

In bringing to fruition recent threats made by the Islamic State group in Egypt against the Coptic Christian minority, nearly 45 people were killed and more than 100 were injured on Sunday morning in two violent bombings at prominent churches in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria, in addition to unconfirmed reports of further terrorist attacks in other locations.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Sunday morning attacks on the Mar Giurgis church in the Nile Delta city of Tanta and Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria, according to the IS-affiliated Ammaq media outlet.

The US embassy condemned the recent church bombings, considering them “terrorist attacks on peaceful people at church during one of the most holy days in the Coptic year.” “We present our condolences to the victims of the attacks, their families, and their friends, wishing them a speedy recovery,” according to a tweet on its official page, adding that the US stands strong with the Egyptian government and the people against terrorism.

Islamic militants unleashed multiple suicide attacks in the city of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, killing at least 22 people, a provincial official said on Wednesday. Five suicide bombers on foot targeted a police patrol and broke into a police officer's house in Tikrit's al-Zihoor neighborhood, according to a Salahuddin provincial council member, Ahmed al-Karim. Al-Karim told The Associated Press that security forces managed to kill three of the bombers while two blew themselves up. Ten policemen were among the dead and up to 31 people were wounded in Tuesday night's attacks, he added.

The Islamic State (IS) militant group on Thursday claimed the killing of two traffic police in southern Russia this week, as security agencies said they had shot dead four suspects.

Hamas has offered "collaborators" with Israel a week to turn themselves in and receive clemency as it investigates the murder of one of its officials in the Gaza Strip, which it blames on Israel. "The doors of repentance will be open for one week, from Tuesday, April 4 to Tuesday, April 11," the interior ministry said in a statement.

The family of slain Italian student Guilio Regeni appealed to Pope Francis to demand justice and raise their son’s murder case with Egyptian authorities during his upcoming visit to Cairo later in April.

Mit Salseel Misdemeanor Court in Daqahliya sentenced on Monday Al-Sayyed Abdel Khaleq Mohamed Al-Desouky, to six and half years in prison for impersonating the character of one of the president's advisors at the funeral of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, and for claiming that he was attending the funeral on behalf of the president of the Republic of Egypt.

Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group has taken control of El Bur, a town in the Horn of Africa's semi-autonomous region of Galmudug, after Ethiopian forces left, a government official has said. Al Shabaab is seeking to drive the African Union-mandated peace keeping force, AMISOM, out of Somalia and topple the country's Western-backed central government.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will meet with Pope Francis, who will arrive in Egypt on April 28. The Catholic pope will take part in a ceremony at which he and Sisi will give a speech. There will also be a meeting with Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb. He is scheduled to deliver another speech at the world peace conference organized by Al-Azhar.

The Shura Council of the Muslim Brotherhood group will hold a meeting this weekend to vote on a document to reconcile with the current regime in exchange for the Brotherhood's return to political and social life, as was the case under former president Hosni Mubarak. The group said the document will come into effect following the vote. This document was prepared by a committee composed by Acting Supreme Guide, Mahmoud Ezzat, and was published on the group official website.

Egypt's army killed 14 Takfiris and arrested 21 others during the past 2 days in northern Sinai, as part of the troops' continued operations in the peninsula to uproot terrorists. Military spokesperson Tamer al-Refaei said that the army airstrikes during the past two days killed 14 top dangerous Takfiri elements, in addition to discovering and destroying two vehicles belonging to the terrorist elements.

Syrian state TV says scores of opposition fighters and their families have left the central city of Homs after being evacuated from the last rebel-held neighborhood.

France's attempts to counter the radicalization of its young people are in turmoil, with a group home intended to turn them away from Islamic extremism empty, the head of a highly publicized nonprofit convicted of misuse of public funds, and plans to segregate prison inmates suspected of harboring jihadi ideas abandoned. The results are both disappointing and unsurprising, according to a French senator who co-wrote a recent report highly critical of an effort she says was devised in haste and has been a waste of money.