Sisi to inaugurate Coptic cathedral

Egypt’s president will inaugurate the country’s biggest cathedral on Coptic Christmas Eve, a day after a deadly bomb blast near a church in a country where jihadists have repeatedly targeted Christians.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday’s explosion on the eastern edge of Cairo that killed a policeman who was trying to defuse the device and wounded two other officers. It had been hidden inside a bag that was searched by police. The policeman who was killed, Mustafa Abid, was a specialist in mine clearance.

The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Shawki Allam, denounced “the terrorist operation that targeted... the church in the Ezzbat al-Haggan neighbourhood of Nasr City”, on his official Facebook page. More than 100 Copts have been killed in jihadist attacks since December 2016.

On Sunday evening President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was due to inaugurate the Cathedral of Nativity in Egypt’s new administrative capital, 45 kilometres (28 miles) east of Cairo. The president will also inaugurate the Al-Fattah al-Alim mosque in the new administrative capital.