CAIRO – 31 March 2018: The Ministry of Interior is preparing huge security elements for the Palm Sunday rituals, which will be held Sunday, first of April, in all Egyptian churches, according to Interior Ministry press release on Saturday.
Security forces surrounded more than 800 meters of churches, and forbade cars or motorcycles from parking nearby; in addition, secured electronic gates before and after the main door of the church have been implemented.
FILE – Security forces in front of Coptic church/Egypt Today
The security plan also considered the security cameras (CCTV) all over every church, besides, the department of crackers and civil protection combs the area around the churches on regular basis.
All these high preparations came after last year’s terror attacks on Palm Sunday in Tanta and Alexandria, where at least 30 people were killed and 71 were injured in a bomb explosion that targeted Saint George’s Coptic Church in Tanta, north of Cairo. Four hours later, a suicide bomber blew himself up in front of Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria. IS claimed responsibility for the two attacks.
Security forces in the Ministry of Interior intensified their efforts to arrest the escaped terror, Amr Saad, who is the common factor between the two accidents.
Saad trained the suicide bombers to sneak into churches and bomb themselves inside it, telling them that “it will get them into heaven.”
Palm Sunday is one of the seven Great Master Feasts in the Coptic Orthodox church, when Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem as a king riding a burro. It is the beginning of the Holy Week as Christians remember the passion of the Christ.
FILE – Security forces in front of Coptic church/Egypt Today
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