Bomb attacks targeting worshippers marking Palm Sunday at two Egyptian churches have left at least 36 people dead.

The first explosion, in Tanta - about 70 miles north of Cairo, killed at least 25 at the Mar Girgis Coptic Church.

Officials said the blast happened "in the front rows, near the altar, during the mass" and that dozens more had been injured.

Video and pictures show crowds gathered around bodies and large blood stains on the pews and church walls.

Several hours later, a bombing in front of Saint Mark's Church in the coastal city of Alexandria killed at least 11 people and injured many more, according to the health ministry.

Pope Tawadros II, head of the Coptic church, had earlier attended mass there.

"Either a bomb was planted or someone blew himself up," provincial governor Ahmad Deif told Nile TV of the Tanta blast.

A witness told the Reuters news agency: "There was a huge explosion in the hall. Fire and smoke filled the room and the injuries were extremely severe.

"I saw the intestines of those injured and legs severed entirely from their bodies."

Egypt is home to around nine million Coptic Christians who have seen attacks on them increase since the toppling of President Mubarak in 2011 and the ouster of his elected successor, Mohamed Morsi, in 2013.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for a bomb at a Cairo cathedral that killed at least 25 people in December 2016, many of them women and children.

Targeted killings in the country's Sinai peninsula also caused hundreds of Christians to flee the area in February, with an IS video urging more attacks.

However, no one has so far claimed responsibility for the latest atrocities.

Pope Francis, due to visit Egypt at the end of this month, sent his "deep condolences" to the "dear Egyptian nation" and his "beloved brother" Pope Tawadros II.

Egyptian state television said President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had ordered an emergency defence council meeting.

Copts often suffer attacks in more rural areas of Egypt, usually over things such as the construction of a church or inter-faith relationships.

They also say they are sidelined from many posts in the police, justice system and universities.

source: sky News