Midnight mass in tense Egypt

Thousands of Coptic Christians have defied threats to their church in a bid to attend midnight mass in Egypt.

For Copts, Friday marks Christmas Day, exactly a week after the tragic bomb blast in Alexandria that killed 23 people.

The attack exposed the vulnerability of Christians in Egypt and evoked soul-searching across the nation.

For many, what happened in Alexandria was not an isolated security incident.

The community say it is symptomatic of wider political failures that have exacerbated the plight of the Coptic in Egypt.

Al Jazeera' Rawya Rageh reports from Cairo