EL-ARISH, EGYPT—Egyptian state news agency MENA reports that 200 people have been killed in a bombing and shooting attack on a mosque in the volatile northern Sinai Peninsula in the deadliest ever attack on Egyptian civilians by Islamic extremists.The attack targeted a mosque frequented by Sufis, members of Islam’s mystical movement, in the north Sinai town of Bir al-Abd. Islamic militants, including the local affiliate of Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, consider Sufis heretics because of their less literal interpretations of the faith.Citing official sources, MENA said 130 people were also wounded in the attack on the al-Rawdah mosque.The Daesh affiliate has been waging a stepped-up campaign of violence in northern Sinai for years and has claimed deadly bombings on churches in the capital, Cairo, and other cities, killing dozens of Christians. It also is believed to have been behind the 2016 downing of a Russian passenger jet that killed 226. But this was the first major militant attack on a Muslim mosque and the startling bloodshed eclipsed any past attacks of its kind, even dating back to a previous Islamic militant insurgency in the 1990s.The militants opened fire from four off-road vehicles on worshippers inside the mosque during the sermon, blocking off escape routes from the area by blowing up cars and leaving the burning wrecks blocking the roads, three police officers on the scene said.Victims were rushed to local hospitals, they added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief reporters.No one claimed responsibility immediately following the attack, but Daesh has targeted Sufis several times in the area in the past, notably beheading a leading Sufi religious figure, the blind sheikh Suleiman Abu Heraz, last year and posting photos of the killing online.Images circulating on social media showed dozens of bloodied bodies wrapped up in sheets laid across the mosque floor, while others revealed dozens ...
|