At least 21 dead in bombing at Egyptian church

Cairo : At least 21 people were killed and 59 wounded in Sunday's bomb attack against a Christian Coptic church north of Cairo, the Egyptian health ministry said.

Some 40 people were also wounded in the blast, which struck as Egypt's Coptic Christian community marked Palm Sunday, the reports said.

A medical official at a hospital in Tanta confirmed to AFP that at least 13 people were killed.

The blast struck at the Mar Girgis Coptic Church in the Nile Delta city of Tanta, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of Cairo, just before 10:00 am local time (0800 GMT), state television reported.