The attacks followed a Cairo church bombing in December and came weeks before a planned visit by Pope Francis.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for bombing two Egyptian churches as worshippers gathered to mark Palm Sunday, killing at least 43 people in the deadliest attacks on the Coptic Christian minority in recent memory.

The attacks followed a Cairo church bombing in December and came weeks before a planned visit by Catholic Pope Francis intended to show support for Egypt’s Christian minority.

The first bombing struck the Mar Girgis church in the city of Tanta north of Cairo, killing 27 people, the Health Ministry said.

“I just felt fire grabbing my face. I pushed my brother who was sitting next to me and then I heard people saying: ‘explosion’,” a wounded witness in hospital told state television.

Emergency services had scrambled to the scene when another blast rocked Saint Mark’s church in Alexandria where Coptic Pope Tawadros II had been leading a Palm Sunday service.

Sixteen people including three police officers were killed in that attack, which the Interior Ministry said was caused by a suicide bomber who blew himself up when police prevented him from entering the church.

The Ministry said the Coptic Pope was unharmed, and a church official said he had left before the bombing.

The private CBC Extra channel aired footage of the Alexandria blast, with CCTV showing what appeared to be the entrance of the church engulfed in a ball of flame and flying concrete moments after a security guard turned away a man.

At least 78 people were wounded in Tanta and 40 in Alexandria, the Health Ministry said.

Officials denounced the violence as an attempt to sow divisions in Egypt, and Pope Francis sent his “deep condolences” to Pope Tawadros.

Islamic State claimed its “squads” carried out both attacks, in a statement by its self-styled Amaq news agency published on social media.

There were bloodstains on the floor of the church in Tanta, next to shredded wooden benches.

State television reported that the Interior Minister sacked the provincial head of security and replaced him after the attack.

On March 29, 2017, the Mar Girgis church’s Facebook page said a “suspicious” device had been found outside the building that security services removed.

A relative of one of the victims reacts after a church explosion in Tanta, Egypt on Sunday.

“I heard the blast and came running. I found people torn up... some people, only half of their bodies remained,” said Nabil Nader, who lives in front of the Tanta church.

Worshippers had been celebrating Palm Sunday, one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar, marking Jesus’ triumphant entrance to Jerusalem.