Egypt launches airstrikes on ‘terrorist outposts’ as mosque death toll rises to 305
Worshippers gather outside the Al Rawdah mosque after the attack (Picture: EPA/STR) Egyptian fighter..
Egyptian fighter jets have destroyed several ‘terrorist outposts’ in response to the devastating gun and bomb attack on a mosque that left hundreds of people dead.
At least 305 people, including 27 children, were killed when a bomb exploded in the Al Rawdah mosque in Sinai yesterday.
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Dozens of militants sprayed worshippers with bullets as they desperately fled the mosque.
The terrorists blocked off escape routes with burnt-out cars and shot at ambulances responding to the massacre.
A further 128 people were wounded in the attack, which has become the worst atrocity in Egypt’s modern history.
Leaders from Washington to Moscow condemned the attack, while President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared three days of mourning.
Egypt’s military said it carried out air strikes and raids overnight against militants held responsible for the killings.
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No group has claimed responsibility, but Egyptian forces are battling an Islamic State affiliate in the region.
‘The air force has over the past few hours eliminated a number of outposts used by terrorist elements,’ the army said.
Images on state media showed bloodied victims and bodies covered in blankets inside the mosque.
Local sources said some of the worshippers were Sufis, who are targeted by groups such as Islamic State as they revere saints and shrines, which Islamists consider tantamount to idolatry.
Islamic State has targeted Sufi Muslims and Shi’ite in other countries like Iraq.
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The jihadists in Egypt’s Sinai have also attacked local tribes and their militias for working with the army and police.
North Sinai, a mostly desert area which stretches from the Suez Canal eastwards to the Gaza Strip and Israel, has long been a security headache for Egypt and is a strategic region for Cairo because of its sensitive borders.
Local militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, once allied to al Qaeda, split from it and declared allegiance to Islamic State in 2014.
But attacks in the Sinai worsened after 2013 when Sisi led the overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood after mass protests against his rule.
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