Egypt bomb kills 17 at Alexandria Coptic church

At least 17 people have been killed at a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in an explosion blamed on a suicide bomber with foreign links.

At least 43 people were wounded in the attack. It happened as worshippers were leaving a new year's service at the al-Qidiseen church shortly after midnight.
Coptic Christians and Muslims clashed after the attack, but police moved in and used tear gas to restore order.
President Hosni Mubarak urged Egyptians to unite against "terrorism".
In a televised statement he blamed "foreign hands" for the bombing. "Wicked terrorists targeted the nation, Copts and Muslims," he said.
"It is a terrorist operation that is alien to us... We will all cut off the head of the snake, confront terrorism and defeat it."
Earlier, authorities said the attack was caused by a car bomb.
Foreign connection? So far no group has said it carried out the attack.

The al-Qaeda in Iraq group had recently threatened Christians in Egypt. It cited the case of two Egyptian Christian women who reportedly converted to Islam in order to divorce their husbands. The group said the women were being held against their will by the Coptic Church.
Christians in the Coptic Orthodox Church make up about 10% of Egypt's population, most of whom are Muslims.
After the explosion, angry Copts clashed with police and local Muslims, reportedly throwing stones and targeting a nearby mosque. Some cars were also set ablaze in the turmoil.
Protesters went into the mosque, throwing books out onto the street, the Associated Press news agency reported.
The mosque was also damaged by the bomb and the casualties included eight injured Muslims, the health ministry said.
A large contingent of police rushed to the scene and used tear gas to disperse the crowd.

He says relatives are being denied access to the victims' bodies at the morgue and it is not clear when they will be buried.

Sectarian tensions In recent months Copts have complained of discrimination, while some Muslims accuse churches of holding converts to Islam against their will, our correspondent reports.
The BBC's Arab affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhadi says the Alexandria bombing is likely to intensify the growing feeling among Christians in the Middle East that they are a community under attack.
The blast is deeply embarrassing for the Egyptian police who, despite having draconian powers, have proved repeatedly incapable of anticipating and thwarting such violence, he says.
The mayor of Alexandria, Gen Adel Labib, said on Egyptian TV that there had been recent threats of attacks on churches.
A local priest said the death toll from the blast would have been even higher had the explosion happened minutes later, after more people had left the service.
After the explosion, Christians were seen chanting beside a burnt-out car in front of the church: "We sacrifice our souls and blood for the Cross."
Alexandria, Egypt's second-largest city with a population of about four million, has seen sectarian violence in the past.
In 2006, there were days of clashes between Copts and Muslims after a Copt was stabbed to death during a knife attack on three of the city's churches.