Imad al-Rekaibi was the one who prevented an even bigger disaster inside the St. Mark’s Church in the Manshiyya area in Alexandria.

If it was not for this policeman, whose photo has been obtained by Al Arabiya, an even bigger disaster would have taken place at the Alexandria church where a bomb exploded on Sunday, killing 17 people including 4 security personnel, and wounding 35 others.

The security forces that are in charge of guarding and protecting the church where Pope Tawadros II was praying, managed to stop the suicide bomber who tried to sneak into the St. Mark’s Church and blow himself up inside the church.

More specifically, policeman Imad al-Rekaibi was the one who prevented an even bigger disaster inside the St. Mark’s Church in the Manshiyya area in Alexandria, where hundreds of Copts were marking Palm Sunday. Two clips show a man wearing a blue sweater draped over his shoulders approaching the main gate to the cathedral, before being turned away and directed toward a nearby metal detector.

For his part, the spokesman of the security forces said that members of the security guards who were in charge of protecting the Church in Alexandria has prevented the suicide bomber from entering the church and detonate it with an explosive belt that he was wearing.

The official added that “at the moment of the attack, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark was inside the church but did not get hurt.”

He explained that “the security forces who were outside the church, were able to stop the suicide bomber from entering the church so he resorted to detonating himself outside,” which resulted in killing two male officers and a female officer from the Alexandria Security Directorate as well as a number of citizens. Many injuries were also reported.

Iman al-Rekaibi

Iman al-Rekaibi