Egypt is holding seven people for questioning over the New Year's Day bombing of a church in the northern city of Alexandria and has released 10 others, a security source said today.
Another source said questioning was continuing related to the attack, which killed 21 people outside the church during a midnight service. He said "a number" of suspects had been detained and most were held briefly before being freed.
The suspected suicide bomber wounded 97 people in the blast, which prompted hundreds of Christians in Muslim-majority Egypt to protest against a failure of the authorities to protect them.
Egyptian officials said there were indications "foreign elements" were behind the blast and said the attack seemed to have been the work of a suicide bomber.
Extra police officers were posted outside several churches in Cairo and Alexandria today, preventing cars from parking next to the buildings, witnesses said.
An Iraqi group linked to al Qaeda threatened the Church in Egypt with attack in November and a statement on an Islamist website, posted about two weeks before the Alexandria bombing, urged Muslims to attack Coptic churches in Egypt and elsewhere.
One security source said seven people were being detained, and 10 had been released after questioning.
"There are people being held and investigated. This is part of the investigations to reveal the mysterious circumstances of the incident and gather information," said the second source, who declined to give specify how many were being detained.
President Hosni Mubarak has pledged to track down the culprits and called for national unity, saying the attack was directed at all Egyptians, not just Christians.
Dozens of Christians gathered inside a cathedral compound today to demand the state and church do more to help them.
One protester, Nader Shenouda, said: "When there was a threat from al Qaeda a month or a month and a half ago, did the government have to wait till the disaster happens before they (the government) protect us?"
Agencies