Australian Coptic Christians are grieving after a bomb killed more than 20 people at the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo.
Egyptian President Abdul Fattal al-Sisi has declared three days of national mourning after at least 26 people were killed at the cathedral.
Crowds have gathered outside the cathedral in grief and anger. The explosion took place in a chapel adjoining the main hall of St Mark's Cathedral, the largest in the city of 20 million, where security is normally tight.
No one has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in which 12 kilograms of TNT explosives were reportedly used, killing many women and children.
Egypt's Endowments Minister, Mokhtar Gomaa, has called on Egyptians to unite against terrorism.
“It is a stab in the heart of every Egyptian,” Mr Gomaa said.
Related reading
Bombing kills at least 25 near Cairo Coptic cathedral
“God willing, together Egyptians will eliminate terrorism.”
The attack is one of the deadliest carried out against the religious minority in recent years.
Egypt has witnessed a rise in attacks by Islamist groups since the overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in 2013.
The country's Christian community has felt increasingly insecure since IS spread through Iraq and Syria in 2014, ruthlessly targeting religious minorities.
In 2015, IS killed 21 Egyptian Christians working in Libya.
The Australian Coptic Movement Association says the bombing is deplorable and unjustifiable.
Association spokesman Peter Tadros told SBS News it was saddening that a scourge of violence and intimidation continues to afflict the community.
“Coptic Christians are seen as a scapegoat,” he said.
“Copts are definitely one of the most vulnerable communities in the Middle East and North Africa and especially in Egypt they are under threat at the moment.”
Mr Tadros said there was “a lot of shock and anger,” in the community over what he described as an attack “even worse than the previous years”.
- with AAP
