Hawzah News Agency (Qom, Iran) - Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi issued a statement condemning ISIS terrorist attacks on two Christian churches in Egypt; the text of the statement is as follows:

"In the name of Allah, the most compassionate, the most merciful

The news of ISIS terrorists’ vicious attacks on two churches in Egypt deeply saddened our hearts.

Sadly, the anti-religion takfiri terrorists carry out their vicious plots and bloodshed in different parts of the world on a daily basis only to give Islam a bad name and to increase Islamophobia. One day, they attack the pedestrians in Sweden with a truck, the other day they slaughter innocent people in a subway station in Russia and now they began initiating attacks on the religious sites of innocent Christians in different Egyptian cities.

I have repeatedly said that in order for us to get rid of this wave of violence and terror, all nations and world leaders must step forward and join their resolve to denounce such takfiri groups; unfortunately, we don’t see such strong resolve in the present world to put an end to these terrorist attacks.

I hereby voice my solidarity with the great nation of Egypt and pray to Allah (swt) to console the hearts of the victims’ families in this incident and to heal the wounded."