Egypt accuses Muslim Brotherhood leaders for links with church blast

Egypt's Interior Ministry accused Muslim Brotherhood leaders who fled to Qatar of training and financing the perpetrators of the church bomb attack in Cairo, MENA reported on Tuesday.

"The investigations revealed that a man called Mohab Moustafa el Sayed Qassim, adopted Takfiri thoughts of the Muslim Brotherhood Godfathter Sayyed Qotb, received financial and logistical support and instructions to train and carry out the attacks by Brotherhood leaders residing in Qatar," the ministry said in a statement.

The Muslim Brotherhood had denied any involvement with the explosion that took place during Sunday service at the church adjacent to Saint Mark's Cathedral, the seat of Coptic Pope Tawadros II.

The statement added that Qassim traveled in 2015 to Qatar and contacted a number of fleeing Muslim Brotherhood leaders who helped him with financial and logistic support to destabilize the country and trigger sectarian sedition.

The interior ministry said investigations showed 22-year-old Mahmoud Shafiq, who get trained by Qassim after coming back from Qatar is the suspected suicide bomber due to the results of DNA testing of body parts found at the scene matched with his family.

It added Shafiq had been arrested in 2014 while securing Muslim Brotherhood convoys while armed. He was released in May the same year.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi addressing the funeral on Monday announced that the blast was carried out by Shafiq.

The president added that four suspects has been arrested, including a woman, for alleged involvement in the attack, while two more suspects were being pursued.

The incident was the deadliest attack since 2011 blast on a church in Alexandria in the Christmas Eve on the Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population. Endit