[P]GCC denounces Egypt's accusations against Qatar
The Persian Gulf Arab countries have condemned Egypt for accusing Qatar of involvement in a recent deadly blast at a church in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
The [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council ([P]GCC) Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani said the council was irked by Cairo's repeated accusations against a member state following the December 11 attack.
He also warned that such claims could harm relations between the council and Egypt.
On December 11, a bombing killed 25 people and injured nearly 50 others at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church.
Security sources in Egypt said the blast had been caused by a bomb containing at least 12 kilograms of TNT explosives detonated on a side of the church.
Egypt's Interior Ministry accused fugitive Muslim Brotherhood leaders who had fled to Qatar of orchestrating the attack.
Cairo named the suspected ringleader as Mohab Mostafa el-Sayed Qassem.
The interior ministry said he had traveled to Qatar in 2015 to meet fugitive leaders of the Brotherhood, adding that he was provided with financial and logistic support to carry out attacks in Egypt.
Qatar and the Brotherhood have denied any involvement in the attack.
The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Egyptian security forces arrested four people, including a woman, in connection with the bombing, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said at a state funeral for the blast victims on December 12.
Major General Tarek Attia, a top Egyptian Interior Ministry official, said the attacker had once been arrested in Fayoum Province, southwest of Cairo, in 2014 on charges of being a member of the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement.
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