Egypt Church Blast on Palm Sunday: Death Toll Rises to 21, 50 Wounded

At least 21 people were killed and over 50 wounded in a bombing near a church in the northern Egyptian city of Tanta, according to Egyptian security sources. The blast occured as Coptic Christians were marking Palm Sunday.

The attack in the Nile Delta town was the latest in a series of assaults on Egypt's Christian minority, which makes up around 10 percent of the population of 92 million and has been repeatedly targeted by Islamic extremists. It comes just weeks before Pope Francis is due to visit Egypt.

CBC showed footage from inside the church, where a large number of people gathered around what appeared to be lifeless, bloody bodies covered with papers.

 A militant group called Liwa al-Thawra claimed responsibility for an



April 1 bomb attack targeting a police training center in Tanta, which wounded 16 people. The group, believed to be linked to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, has mainly targeted security forces and distanced itself from attacks on Christians.

In December, 25 were killed by a suicide bombing at Cairo's main Coptic cathedral. ISIS later claimed responsibility for the blast.

Egypt has seen a spate of attacks since 2013, when the army deposed Egypt's former Islamist President Mohammad Morsi, the country's first democratically elected leader, following mass protests against his divisive rule.

Christians backed Morsi's toppling by then-army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, Egypt's current president.