Egypt arrests four over deadly church bombing in Cairo

Egyptian security forces have arrested four people, including a woman, over the recent deadly bombing that killed at least two dozen Christian citizens at a church in the capital, Cairo.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi made the announcement at a state funeral for the blast victims on Monday, saying the four suspects were apprehended in connection with the Sunday terrorist attack, which left 24 people dead and nearly 50 others injured at Cairo’s Coptic Cathedral.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the bombing. 

Sisi also revealed that the attack had been carried out by a bomber who was later identified as 22-year-old Mahmoud Shafiq Mohammed Mostafa.

"He blew himself up inside the church" with an explosive belt, the Egyptian president said.

Security sources in Egypt said the blast had been caused by a bomb containing at least 12 kilograms of TNT explosives detonated on a side of the church.

Sisi named no organizations or militant groups suspected of involvement in the Sunday terrorist attack, but said two other suspects were still on the run without identifying them.

Meanwhile, Major General Tarek Attia, a top Egyptian Interior Ministry official, said the bomber had once been arrested in Fayoum Province, southwest of Cairo, in 2014 on charges of being a member of the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Three days of national mourning was declared by the government in Egypt in the wake of the Sunday blast.

SS