Egypt: Bomb blast at cathedral kills at least 25

A bomb blast at Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral has killed at least 25 people and injured 35 others on Sunday.

The attack on the Cairo church was one of the deadliest against the country's Christian minority, reports the Guardian.

Egyptian state TV reported that the bomb exploded in a chapel close to the outer wall of St Mark's Cathedral, the seat of Egypt's Orthodox Christian church and home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II.

There were conflicting reports as to the nature of the attack. Egypt's official Mena news agency said an assailant threw a bomb into a chapel close to the outer wall of the cathedral, but some witnesses suggested an explosive device had been planted inside the building.

Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of 90 million, faced persecution and discrimination during the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011.

They have faced further attacks at the hands of Islamist extremists since the 2013 military overthrow of the democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi, who hailed from the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement. Morsi's supporters accused Christians of supporting his ouster, which came after millions of protesters took to the streets demanding his resignation.

On 14 August 2013, mobs attacks dozens of churches across the country after police killed hundreds of pro-Morsi protesters in Cairo.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's attack.