Egyptian President orders Army to ensure vital infrastructure's security

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi has ordered the army to ensure security of the vital infrastructure facilities across the country in wake of the deadly terrorist attacks that hit two Egyptian cities-- Tanta and Alexandria, the president's press service said on Sunday.

According to the statement, the President has authorized special units to assist local police in ensuring security of the infrastructure in all the country's provinces, the Sputnik reported.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has reportedly claimed responsibility for the two attacks on churches in Egypt that left at least 37 people dead and injured several others.

"A security detachment of the Islamic State carried out the attacks against the two churches in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria," the New York Times quoted an online statement shared by sympathisers and attributed to the militants as saying.

At least 26 people were killed in a bomb attack near a church in Egypt's Tanta, north of Cairo.

Another explosion occurred in front of St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria killing at least 11 persons.

The explosions took place when Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria, was leading the Palm Sunday mass, local media reports said.

The pope, however, has been reported unhurt in the blast.

The attack is the latest in a series of assaults on Egypt's Christian minority, which makes up around 10 percent of the population of 92 million, and has been repeatedly targetted by the Islamic extremists.

In December last year, 25 people were killed by a suicide bombing at Cairo's main Coptic cathedral. The ISIS later claimed responsibility for the blast.