CAIRO, Dec 31 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt finished repairing the church adjacent to St. Marks Coptic Cathedral, which was the site of an explosion earlier this month, the armed forces said in a statement.

The blast, which coincided with the Muslim celebration of the Prophet’s Birthday on Dec. 11, killed 27 and injured dozens of worshipers, many of whom are women and children attending the Sunday mass then.

St. Marks Coptic Cathedral is considered one of Egypt's most symbolic religious sites for Copts.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi identified a 22-year old Mahmoud Shafiq Mostafa as the suicide bomber who carried out the attack.

The interior ministry announced later that people in connection with the Muslim Brotherhood group in Qatar schemed the attack on the church. The ministry said then that it arrested four people including a woman, all of whom assisted the suicide bomber.

The attack was claimed by the Islamic State.