Turkey's president says church bomb was suicide attack

Well they finally figured it out--the person who blew himself up at St. Mark's Cathedral, a Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo, was an Islamic suicide bomber. The blast killed 24 Christians and wounded 49 more.

Coptic Christians comprise around 10 percent of Egypt's population and they strongly supported the military overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, the elected Islamist president in 2013, which was led by Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the current leader of the country.

Since the overthrow of the brutal autocrat, Morsi, Islamic militants have carried out scores of attacks, mainly targeting security forces as the government cracked down on the attackers.

El-Sissi spoke at a state funeral for the victims where he identified the bomber as 22-year-old Mahmoud Shafiq Mohammed Mustafa. Also, three men and a woman were arrested in connection with the attack while two other suspects are on the run, el-Sissi said.

Although el-Sissi didn't link Mustafa to any military groups, a top Interior Ministry official, police Major General Tarek Attia, told the AP that the the bomber had been arrested in Fayoum province in 2014 on charges of being a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that US President Barack Hussein Obama has excellent relationships with and often has them at the White House for lunch.

While no group claimed responsibility for the attack, the smart money is on militant Islam.

"This strike really hurt us and caused us much pain, but it will not break us," el-Sissi said. "God willing, we will win this war."

Egypt's leader called on government and parliament to introduce legislation to allow for more "decisive" methods to deal with terrorists, but didn't elaborate. "As long as we are together as one, we will definitely win, because we are people of goodness, not evil, and people of building, not destruction."


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