Pope Benedict on Sunday condemned the attack outside a church in Egypt on Saturday that killed at least 21 people. "This vile gesture of death, like that of putting bombs near to the houses of Christians in Iraq to force them to leave, offends God and all of humanity," the pope said, according to Reuters.
On his part, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak said the attack bore the hallmark of "foreign hands" and the interior ministry also blamed "foreign elements". The Egyptian leader vowed in televised comments on Saturday that he will "cut off the head of the snake, confront terrorism and defeat it" and urged Christians and Muslims to stand united in the face of a common enemy.
