A bomb planted near the wall of Mar-Girgis (St George) church in the village of Tamiya in Fayoum, some 100km southwest Cairo, exploded Saturday 16 May, but caused no human casualties.
Father Raphael Samy of Mar-Girgis’s told Watani that the bomb exploded in the late afternoon, and resulted in shattering the glass windows of the church and its administrative offices. But since there were no services at the time, he said, there were no casualties. “We directly reported the matter to the police who came, combed the area for any more bombs but found none, and started their investigation.
“The cameras on the church wall displayed the culprits clearly since they were not masked,” he said. “It turned out that two men on a motorbike approached the church; one of them went down and placed a plastic bag near the wall then rode again and they went off. A few minutes later whatever was in the plastic bag detonated.
“It should be easy for the police to catch the culprits,” Fr Raphael said, “since their faces were clear on the camera.”
Fr Raphael believes the bomb may have been planted by local Islamists in retaliation for the death sentence passed that morning against Egypt’s previous president Muhammad Mursi who was a Muslim Brother.
Watani International
17 May 2015