CAIRO: Egyptian police on Tuesday arrested a man wanted for alleged involvement in twin church bombings this month claimed by the Daesh group, an official said.
Acting on a tip-off, police arrested Ali Mahmoud Mohamed Hassan, one of 19 suspects whose names police made public after the Palm Sunday explosions, the official said.
Two suicide bombers attacked two churches in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria on April 9, killing 45 people in the deadliest attack on Coptic Christians in recent memory.
Hassan was arrested in the southern province of Qena, from where the two suicide bombers also came.
The interior ministry had raised a reward for information leading to the suspects’ arrests to 500,000 pounds ($27,518).
The Palm Sunday bombings followed an earlier attack by a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives in a packed Cairo church in December, killing 29 people.
The Daesh group, which claimed all three bombings, has threatened more attacks on the minority, which makes up about 10 percent of Egypt’s 90 million people.
The attacks, weeks before a planned visit by Roman Catholic Pope Francis, prompted the government to declare a three-month state of emergency.
Suspect in Egypt church bombings arrested
Suspect in Egypt church bombings arrested
Saudi Arabia, UAE condemn drone attack against Emirati consulate in Irbil
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia has joined the UAE in condemning a drone attack targeting the Emirate’s consulate in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Irbil, it said in a statement early on Tuesday.
Iraqi Kurdistan’s counter-terrorism service said late on Monday that it had downed three drones in Irbil, with debris from one of the drones falling near the UAE consulate.
It said no casualties were reported.
Saudi Arabia, in a statement released through its foreign ministry, expressed its ‘strongest condemnation’ of the targeting of UAE’s consulate in Iraqi Kurdistan.
A UAE foreign ministry statement earlier said the attack “represents a dangerous escalation and a threat to regional security and stability,” adding that “targeting diplomatic missions and premises constitutes a flagrant violation of all international norms and laws.”
It also called on the Kurdistan regional government to investigate the circumstances of the attack, identify those responsible and hold them accountable.
