- Both Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawy and the US State Department condemned the Sunday attack on a church in Warraq that left four people dead.
Al-Beblawy also offered his condolences to Pope Towadros II in a phone conversation the day after, according to Boulos Haleem, spokesperson for the Orthodox Church..
US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mary Harf also weighed in. "We strongly condemn the heinous attack on the Al-Adra church in Cairo," she said.
“We're going to keep making the point that this kind of violence has no place in moving Egypt forward. It will only hinder Egypt's democratic transition process and economic recovery," she told journalists.
Harf added that the Egyptian government should punish the assailants, saying the freedom of Egyptian Copts has been targeted recently. Protecting religious freedom is a main part of Egypt’s transition to democracy, she stressed.
Edited translation from MENA
