25 killed, 49 injured in blast at Coptic Cathedral in Cairo

CAIRO - At least 25 people were killed and 49 others injured on Sunday in an explosion at the Coptic Cathedral in Abbasiya's neighborhood of Cairo, Egypt's Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The security forces rushed to the scene and launched operations to search the assailants and other possible explosive devices, the Ministry of Interior said in a press release.

No one has claimed yet responsibility for the attack.

Security forces, medical teams and firefighters beefed up presence near the Cathedral Complex that contains a number of Churches as well as the residence place of the Coptic Pope Tawadros II, head of Egypt's Orthodox Church.

Sources at the Cathedral Church told state-run MENA news agency that an unknown person threw a bomb inside the al-Botrossiya Coptic Church where was full of believers attending Sunday mass.

There are no accurate statistics, but some reports said that Copts constitute over 10 percent of the 92 million population of the country.

In Egypt, bomb attacks are endemic in North Sinai Province, where Islamic State-affiliated Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group has carried out hundreds of anti-security attacks following the ouster of the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi by the army in response to mass protest against his rule in 2013.

However, some attacks crept to Cairo and other major cities across the most populous Arab country.

On Friday, six policemen were killed when explosive devices exploded at a security checkpoint stationed on the road leading to the Pyramids near Cairo.

A minor Islamist military faction claimed responsibility for the attack.

The terrorist attacks have claimed lives of hundreds of police and army personnel as well as a number of civilians.