CAIRO – Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi on Saturday, has vowed to respond forcefully after militants killed at least 235 worshippers in a mosque in North Sinai province, on Friday. The attack is the country’s deadliest attack in the recent history.
Egyptian President declared three days of mourning, beginning from Saturday.
In a televised address Al-Sisi pledged to “respond with brutal force”, adding that “army and police will avenge our martyrs and return security and stability with force in the coming short period”.
In a televised speech the president pledged to “respond with brutal force”, adding that “the army and police will avenge our martyrs and return security and stability with force in the coming short period”.
235 people were killed in a coordinated bomb and gun attack in northern Sinai. Some 130 others were injured, on Friday.
The explosion took place in the vicinity of a mosque during Friday prayer and was accompanied by an armed attack carried out by suspected militants, according to media reports, citing eyewitnesses and security sources.
State media showed images of bloodied victims and bodies covered in blankets inside the Al Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, west of the city of El Arish. Those fleeing the mosque were then reportedly attacked by gunmen.
Several hours after the attack, Egyptian air force jets destroyed vehicles used in the attack and “terrorist” locations where weapons and ammunition were stocked, an Egyptian army spokesman said.
Witnesses said assailants had surrounded the mosque with all-terrain vehicles and detonated a bomb. They then mowed down panicked worshippers as they tried to flee and used congregants´ vehicles they had set alight to block routes to the mosque.
