CAIRO — An al-Qaida-linked group in Gaza was behind the New Year's Day suicide bombing that killed 21 Christians and wounded about a hundred outside a church in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, the country's interior minister announced Sunday.
Habib al-Adly said the Gaza-based Army of Islam in Gaza was behind the attack, which sparked three days of Christian rioting in Cairo and several other cities. It was the deadliest attack against Christians in Egypt in more than a decade.
RELATED:Egyptian cleric accused of incarcerating Muslim convertEgypt's Pope says state must address Coptic woesSecurity officials said an unspecified number of people have been
detained in connection with the bombing but gave no more details. They
spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
share the information with the media.
Late last year, the IDF killed three members of the Army of Islam in
separate airstrikes, alleging the men had planned to attack targets in
Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.