CAIRO - The death toll from a New Year's Day bombing outside a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria has risen by two to 23, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported on Tuesday. Dozens of people were wounded when a presumed suicide bomber detonated a device during a midnight service. No clear official account has emerged of how the attack was carried out but analysts point to a small cell, not a larger militant group like those behind an Islamist insurgency that flared more than a decade ago. The Dutch anti-terror agency NCTb has urged police to keep an eye on Coptic churches in three Dutch cities after they were included in Internet threats against Coptic churches in Europe, including France and Britain. The bombing sparked angry protests and some clashes with police in Alexandria and the capital Cairo by young Christians calling for more protection from the authorities. Christians account for about 10 per cent of Egypt's population of 80 million.
