Syria expresses condolences over terror attacks in Egypt

Syria has expressed condolences to families of victims of the deadly attacks in the Egyptian cities of Alexandria and Tanta, local media reported.

"Syria voices its condolences to the families of the victims and affirms that the terrorist groups that commit these crimes against innocent people in the brotherly Arab Republic of Egypt are the same terrorist groups that target citizens in the Syrian Arab Republic under the support of the US, some Gulf states, Turkey and Israel," the SANA news agency reported citing its source in the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry.

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.