Egypt discovers Alex church bombing suspect body

Egypt’s interior ministry announced Wednesday the discovery of the dead body of an unknown man suspected of carrying out the bombing of an Alexandria Coptic church.

The remains discovered at the site of the explosion, which took place on New Year’s Eve and claimed the lives of 23 people, include an incomplete head that was reconstructed by plastic surgeons.

The reconstruction process, the statement added, enabled the ministry of producing an imaginary draft sketch of the man, released to the public on the same day.

In case the body belongs to the terrorist that carried out the bombing, this refutes an earlier theory that car parked in front of the church was the source of the explosion and makes the act a suicidal operation.

Based on an analysis of the 45 remaining parts found at the site of the explosion, the suspect is 23-25 years old.

The bomb used weighed 20-25 kilograms and was made of chemical substance mixed with highly-explosive TNT sticks. The suspect is believed to have carried it in a schoolbag or a handbag.

However, it is not yet confirmed that the remains belong to the culprit, said Yasser Refaei, chief prosecutor in Alexandria.

According to Egypt’s Prosecutor Abdul Maguid Mahmoud, none of the victims or the eyewitnesses was capable of identifying the way in which the explosion took place.

Technical and laboratory investigations revealed that the bomb was detonated in the wrong way or before the scheduled time, causing the total dispersion of the terrorist’s body parts, which flew several meters away.


(Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid)