Islamic role in church blast?

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt - Egyptian police are focusing their investigation into the New Year's church bombing on a group of Islamic hard-liners inspired by al-Qaeda and based in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, where the attack killed 21 people, security officials said Sunday.

The bombing touched off riots and protests by member of Egypt's Christian minority, who feel they are targeted and discriminated against and do not get adequate protection from authorities.

There were signs of beefed-up security outside churches nationwide and dozens of people returned to pray Sunday in the bombed, blood-spattered Saints Church - many of them sobbing, screaming in anger, and slapping themselves in grief.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on Coptic Christians who were leaving a midnight Mass about a half hour into the new year Saturday, the worst attack on Egyptian Christians in a decade. Egyptian officials said at least 96 people were wounded in the blast.

In the aftermath of the suicide bombing, President Hosni Mubarak blamed foreigners, and the Alexandria governor accused al-Qaeda, pointing to threats against Christians by the terrorist network's branch in Iraq.

But on Sunday, security officials said police were looking at the possibility that homegrown Islamic extremists were behind the attack, and perhaps were inspired by al-Qaeda.

Investigators were also examining lists of air passengers who arrived recently in Egypt from Iraq because al-Qaeda in Iraq has threatened Christians in both countries. They said they were looking for any evidence of an al-Qaeda financier or organizer who may have visited Egypt to recruit the bomber and his support team from local militants.

Egypt's government has long insisted that al-Qaeda does not have a significant presence in the country, and it has never been conclusively linked to any attacks here. Egypt does, however, have a rising movement of Islamic hard-liners who, while they do not advocate violence, adhere to an ideology similar in other ways to al-Qaeda. There have been fears they could be further radicalized by sectarian tensions.

Alexandria has become a stronghold for Islamic hard-liners in the last decade. Stabbings at three Alexandria churches in 2006 sparked three days of Muslim-Christian riots that left at least four dead.

On Sunday, Christians staged demonstrations in at least three cities to protest what they see as the government's failure to protect their community, but police moved quickly to break up the gatherings.

Inside the Saints Church, the floor was still stained with blood, two statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary were toppled, and benches were scattered by the impact of the blast. A wooden cross hanging on the church gate was covered with a white sheet stained with victims' blood, and bits of human flesh remained stuck on the gate.

Young Christian men prevented cleaners from removing the bits of flesh. "Leave them. This is pure blood!" one of the men shouted.

The attack was condemned by regional authorities, European officials, and Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI.

In Rome, Benedict called the attack an offense to God. "This vile gesture of death, like that of putting bombs near to the houses of Christians in Iraq to force them to leave, offends God and all of humanity," he said.