This news video shows the aftermath of the New Year’s Eve church bombing in Alexandria, Egypt. There are interviews with survivors and witnesses, and accounts of the looting of Christian stores by a Muslim mob.
See the AINA post from early this morning for details about the bombing and the official response to it.
Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for YouTubing this video. Caution: although the footage in this video is not graphic, some of the images are intense:
The Alexandria Church Bombing: The Plot Thickens
President Hosni Mubarak was quick to condemn the “attack against Muslims and Christians”, a characterization of the event that was echoed by President Obama. The sophistication and scope of the attack were downplayed, with the Egyptian government insisting that a lone suicide bomber was responsible, rather than a remotely-detonated car bomb. When the Pope condemned the attack, the imam of Al-Azhar University accused him of interfering in Egypt’s internal affairs.
Today brought two new developments: evidence that there was careful advanced co-ordination for the blast, and reports by witnesses that the security detachment guarding the church abruptly departed about an hour before the bomb exploded.
Here’s the report from AINA. (the out-links are in the original article). A composite video of the aftermath of the explosion follows the AINA article:
Egyptian Security Guards Withdrew One Hour Before Church Blast, Say Eyewitnesses
by Mary Abdelmassih
(AINA) — The car explosion that went off in front of Saints Coptic Orthodox Church in Alexandria killed 21 and injured 96 parishioners who were attending a New Year’s Eve Mass. According to church officials and eyewitnesses, there are many more victims that are still unidentified and whose body parts were strewn all over the street outside the church. The body parts were covered with newspapers until they were brought inside the church after some Muslims started stepping on them and chanting Jihadi chants (video showing dead bodies and limbs covered with newspapers in the street).
According to eyewitnesses, a green Skoda car pull up outside the church shortly after midnight. Two men got out , one of them talked shortly on his mobile phone, and the explosion occurred almost immediately after they left the scene. On the back of the Skoda was a sticker with the words “the rest is coming” (video of car explosion and Muslims shouting “Allah Akbar”).
It was reported that the bomb, locally made, had 100KG of explosives in addition to having nails, glass and iron balls inside. The strength of it not only caused glass panes to be shattered in all the neighborhood, but also made body parts fly into the building’s fourth floor, and to the mosque facing the church.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but officials hastily blamed either Al-Qaida or the Israeli Mousad of being behind the blast, but none of them mentioned the Egyptian state security which is viewed by Copts as the real culprit.
To clear his security forces of negligence, the Minister of Interior said that the blast was an “individual” case, caused by a single suicide terrorist detonating his vest, and has nothing to do with an exploding car. The governor of Alexandria claimed the attack as being aimed at Muslims and Christians alike.
After the blast, traumatized Copts were angered by chants of “Allah Akbar” from Muslims and began hurling stones at the mosque. Immediately security forces which were absent during the car blast and the ensuing events, appeared and starting shooting tear gas at the Copts, and they in turn hurled stones at them, said an eyewitness. Fifteen Copts were rounded up from their homes by the authorities.
