The terrorist group Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, warns that more attacks will come even as they have claimed that they are responsible for the bombing in Cairo last Sunday that killed 25 people.
Mahmoud Shafik Mohamed Mostafa was identified by the Egyptian authorities as the one responsible for the attack at ST. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, but ISIS has identified the bomber as alias Abu Abdallah al-Masri.
The authorities have released a video showing the suicide bomber entering the church, and moments later, the explosion was heard.
Now that they've claimed responsibility for the Cairo Coptic church bombing, ISIS is also making threats that more attacks should be expected as they are intensifying their war on polytheism, which actually refers to Christianity. New York Times reports that the threats mean the group wants to broaden its operations in the biggest cities of Egypt even as they are battling the military in the Sinai Peninsula.
Only 10% of the population in Egypt are Coptic Christians, and they have been crying out that the government has not done much to protect them, as this was not the first time that Coptic Christians have been targeted by ISIS. In February of 2015, ISIS released photos of 21 Coptic Christians, believed to have been kidnapped from Sirte, Libya, being executed by their ISIS militants
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, spoke at the state funeral for the victims. President Sisi, who tended to blame the Muslim Brotherhood for most attacks done in the country, is now facing not just an economic crisis but the threat of more attacks by ISIS as well.
Despite the suspect of the bombing being arrested in 2014 at a protest organized by the Muslim Brotherhood, the claim of ISIS that they were responsible for the bombing puts to rest the announcement made by the Interior Ministry that the exiled Muslim Brotherhood financed the bombing of the church.
It was claimed by his family that when Mustafa was imprisoned after the protest, he was tortured by his jailers which caused his radicalization.
