suicide bomber kills 17 at Egypt church in suspected:(pic)

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (Reuters) - A bomb killed at least 17 people outside a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria early on New Year's Day and the Interior Ministry said a foreign-backed suicide bomber may have been responsible.

Dozens of people were wounded by the blast, which scattered body parts, destroyed cars and smashed windows. The attack prompted Christians to protest on the streets, and some Christians and Muslims hurled stones at each other.

Egypt has stepped up security around churches, banning cars from parking outside them, since an al Qaeda-linked group in Iraq issued a threat against the Church in Egypt in November.

Egypt's leaders were quick to call for unity, wary of any upsurge in sectarian strife or other tension as the country approaches a presidential election due in September amid some uncertainty about whether President Hosni Mubarak, 82, will run.

A statement on an Islamist website posted about two weeks before the blast called for attacks on Egypt's churches, listing among them the one hit. No group was named in the statement.

Pope Benedict, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, denounced violence against Christians in his New Year address and appealed for religious freedom and tolerance. He said he would host a summit of world religious leaders in Assisi in October to discuss how to promote peace.

Germany and Iraq condemned the attack.

For a series of articles on Christians in the region, including communities in Egypt and Iraq, see:

Saturday's blast did not originate in any of the cars that were destroyed, an Interior Ministry statement on the official news agency said. "It is likely that the device which exploded was carried by a suicide bomber who died among others," it said.

The circumstances of this attack, compared with other incidents abroad, "clearly indicates that foreign elements undertook planning and execution," the statement added.

Mubarak promised in a televised address that terrorists would not destabilise Egypt or divide Christians and Muslims. He said the attack "carries evidence of the involvement of foreign fingers" and vowed to pursue the perpetrators.

COMMUNAL FRUSTRATIONS

Health Minister Hatem el-Gabaly told Reuters there were 17 confirmed dead, 12 of them identified as Christians. Five bodies had yet to be identified. He said initial assessments indicated 70 people were wounded.

State media earlier reported 21 killed in the blast, which struck as worshippers marking the New Year left the church. The ministry had initially blamed the explosion on a car bomb.

Christians make up about 10 percent of Muslim-majority Egypt's 79 million people. Tensions often flare between the two communities over issues such as building churches or close relationships between members of the two faiths.

But analysts said this attack was on a much bigger scale and appeared far more organised than the kind of violence that usually erupts when communal frustrations boil over.

"This tragic incident certainly does not match any other sectarian assault that my organisation has documented over the past few years," said rights campaigner Hossam Bahgat.

His group, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, has said the number of violent sectarian incidents has been rising.

After protests overnight, more than 100 Christians protested on Saturday near the Coptic Orthodox church that was hit. "We sacrifice our souls and blood for the cross," they chanted.

ISLAMIST THREAT

The al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq, which claimed an attack on a church in Baghdad in November, threatened Egypt's Church over its treatment of women the group said the Church was holding after they had converted to Islam.

A statement posted on an Islamist website called on Muslims to "bomb churches during the Christmas holiday when churches are crowded". It was not clear who was behind the statement that listed churches in Egypt and elsewhere, including Alexandria's Church of the Two Saints that was targeted.

The Orthodox Coptic Christmas is on Jan. 7.

Alexandria governor Adel Labib "accused al Qaeda of planning the bombing", state television reported in a brief headline without giving further details.

Kameel Sadeeq, from the Coptic council in Alexandria, told Reuters: "People went in to church to pray to God but ended up as scattered limbs. This massacre has al Qaeda written all over, the same pattern Qaeda has adopted in other countries."

Last January, a drive-by shooting of six Christians and a Muslim policeman at a church in southern Egypt sparked protests.

In November, hundreds of Christians clashed with riot police, and with some Muslims who joined in, in Cairo in protest against a decision to halt construction of a church. Officials said the Christians had no licence to build. Two Christians died and dozens were hurt, medical sources said. More than 150 were detained.

Analysts say the state must address grievances such as those over laws making it easier to build a mosque than a church if it wants to stem such sectarian violence.

Officials are swift to play down sectarian differences and have been keen to emphasise national harmony after a November parliamentary election that opposition groups said was rigged, and before the September presidential poll.

Mubarak, 82 and in power since 1981, is expected to run, if he is able to. Gallbladder surgery in March revived questions about his health, but he has returned to a full schedule.

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