Egyptian parliament extends state of emergency due to security challenge

The Egyptian parliament approved on Tuesday a three-month extension of a state of emergency due to the security challenges facing the country, a media report said.

Citing MENA news agency, Xinhua reported that the parliament speaker said during a general session on Tuesday that he had been informed by the Prime Minister of the decision of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to extend the nationwide state of emergency for another three months.

The extension will start from July 10 evening.

Sisi imposed the first three-month nationwide state of emergency in April following twin bombings at two churches in northern provinces of Gharbiya and Alexandria killed at least 47 and wounded over 120.

A similar suicide bombing at a Cairo church in December 2016 killed at least 28 worshippers.