Egypt church bombings: Isis claims responsibilty for two attacks targeting Christians on Palm Sunday

Group recently warned it would step up attacks against Egypt's Christians

Security personnel investigate the scene of a bomb explosion inside Mar Girgis church in Tanta (EPA)

Isis has claimed responsibility for two bomb attacks on Coptic Christian churches in Egypt which have killed at least 36 people.

“A group that belongs to Islamic State carried out the two attacks on the churches in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria,” the group’s news agency Amaq said.

Over 100 people were wounded in the attacks.

In the first, a bomb exploded at Saint George church in the Nile Delta city of Tanta, killing at least 26 and wounding over 70.

Later, a second blast in front of a church in Alexandria killed 11 people and wounded 66, the health ministry said.

The group recently released a video vowing to step up attacks against Christians, who it describes as “infidels” empowering the West against Muslims.

An Isis affiliate claimed a suicide bombing at a Cairo church in December that killed around 30 people, mostly women, as well as a string of killings in the restive northern Sinai that caused hundreds of Christians to flee to safer areas of the country.

The Sinai-based Isis affiliate has mainly attacked police and soldiers, but has also claimed bombings that killed civilians, including the downing of a Russian passenger plane over the Sinai in 2015, which killed all 224 people on board and devastated Egypt’s tourism industry.