Updated April 09, 2017 19:46:36

At least 21 people have been killed and more than 50 injured after a bomb exploded in a church north of Cairo that was packed with Palm Sunday worshippers, officials say.

The attack in the Nile Delta town of Tanta is the latest in a series of assaults on Egypt's Christian minority, which makes up around 10 per cent of the population and has been repeatedly targeted by Islamic extremists.

It comes just one week before Coptic Easter and the same month Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Egypt.

CBC TV showed footage from inside the church, where a large number of people gathered around what appeared to be lifeless, bloody bodies covered with papers.

Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed confirmed the toll from the attack in interviews with local and state-run media.

No-one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

A local Islamic State affiliate claimed a suicide bombing at Cairo's largest Coptic cathedral in December that killed around 30 people — mostly women — making it one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory.

Copts — who belong to an early Christian denomination in Egypt — face regular attacks by Muslim neighbours, who burn their homes and churches in poor rural areas, usually in anger over an inter-faith romance or the construction of a church.

A militant group called Liwa al-Thawra claimed responsibility for an April 1 bomb attack targeting a police training centre in Tanta, which wounded 16 people.

The group, believed to be linked to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, has mainly targeted security forces and distanced itself from attacks on Christians.

Egypt has struggled to combat a wave of Islamic militancy since the 2013 military overthrow of elected Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

AP

Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, egypt

First posted April 09, 2017 19:23:01