Egypt on Tuesday accused Muslim Brotherhood leaders of fleeing to Qatar for training and financing the perpetrators of the church bomb attack in Cairo.
“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,” Xinhua news agency cited Interior Ministry as saying.
The Muslim Brotherhood 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.
According to a statement, Qassim travelled in 2015 to Qatar and contacted a number of fleeing Muslim Brotherhood leaders who helped him with financial and logistic support to destabilise the country and trigger sectarian sedition.
The interior ministry said investigations showed 22-year-old Shafiq, who get trained by Qassim is the suspected suicide bomber due to the results of DNA testing of body parts found at the scene matched with his family.
It said Shafiq had been arrested in 2014 while securing Muslim Brotherhood convoys. He was released in May the same year.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi addressing the funeral on Monday said the blast was carried out by Shafiq.
The president said four suspects has been arrested, including a woman, for alleged involvement in the attack, while two more 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 per cent of Egypt’s population.
