Church Bombings Rock Palm Sunday in Egypt

A man sits on a bench outside a church after a bomb attack in Tanta, Egypt, April 9, 2017. The attack took place on Palm Sunday, the start of the Holy Week leading up to Easter, when the church was packed with worshipers. It was one of two church blasts in Egypt, the second happening just hours later in Alexandria, that killed 44 people and wounded more than 100.

A relative of one of the victims reacts after the explosion.

A man holds a Coptic clergy cloth with blood stains on it at Tanta's Mar Girgis church, about 90km north of Cairo, after the explosion.

Coptic priests sit among the damages next to security personnel investigating the scene in Tanta.

Security personnel investigate the scene of the explosion inside Mar Girgis church in Tanta.

Security personnel investigate the scene of the explosion in Tanta.

A palm leaf is stained with blood inside the Mar Girgis church.

People gather in front of the church in Tanta.

A victim is seen on a stretcher in Tanta.

A relative of one of the victims reacts after the explosion.

Egyptians gather at the church in Tanta.

Egyptians walk past the place near a church in Alexandria where a bomb blast struck worshipers. The Interior ministry said Coptic Pope Tawadros II was inside the church leading a Palm Sunday service when the suicide bomber was stopped by police outside and blew himself up. A church official said Tawadros had already left the church when the bombing took place.

People react at the scene after the blast.

Rescue workers push a stretcher with a victim outside the Saint Mark's Coptic Cathedral in Alexandria.

People react to the scene in Alexandria.

Two women react outside the Saint Mark's Coptic Cathedral in Alexandria, 250km northwest of Cairo.

An ambulance waits outside the cathedral.

People react in anger following the Alexandria explosion.

Members of Egypt's special forces take their positions after the attack.