A tense Christmas for Egypt’s Coptic Christians

Security forces have been out in strength as Egypt’s Coptic Christians mark Christmas, still reeling from a church bombing in which 23 people died.

Extra police have been deployed amid threats to the Coptic community posted on Islamist websites since the New Year’s day attack in Alexandria.

In Cairo, Coptic Patriarch Shenouda presided over a solemn midnight mass.

The discovery of a primitive explosive device at a church in the south of the country on Thursday caused fresh alarm, although it had no detonator.

Some of Egypt’s majority Muslims staged Christmas Eve vigils outside churches, in solidarity with Copts.

Calls for unity have multiplied since last week’s explosion, which authorities suspect was carried out by an al-Qaeda inspired, foreign-backed bomber.

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