Egypt mosque attackers wore military uniforms, arrived in SUVs

DOZENS of men wearing military combat uniforms and armed with automatic machine guns carried out the deadly assault on a Sufi mosque in northern Sinai, Egyptian authorities said.

Twenty-five to 30 attackers arrived in five SUVs at the al Rawdah Sufi mosque in Bir al-Abed on Friday. Some wore masks and at least one was carrying an ISIS flag, the state prosecutor told state-run Nile TV in a statement.

They positioned themselves at the building’s entrances and the front of the mosque shortly before the massive gunfire and loud explosions rang out.

By the time the attackers’ weapons went quiet, 305 people were dead, including 27 children, the prosecutor said Saturday. An additional 128 people were wounded.

The al Rawdah Sufi mosque is known as the birthplace of an important Sufi cleric. Sufism is a mystical branch of Islam that some jihadists consider heretical.

Sitting outside a hospital emergency room, a survivor who did not want to be identified told CNN that he still had shrapnel in an eye that was covered by a bandage. He believes he survived because he was covered by the bodies of other victims as the attackers went around the mosque to ensure everyone was dead, he said.

“No one got out of the mosque,” said another witness at a nearby hospital. The man, who also declined to be identified out of fear of retaliation, said his father and eight other family members, including a brother and nephew, were killed.

Dozens of men wearing military combat uniforms and armed with automatic machine guns carried out the deadly assault on a Sufi mosque in northern Sinai, Egyptian authorities said.

 

Twenty-five to 30 attackers arrived in five SUVs at the al Rawdah Sufi mosque in Bir al-Abed on Friday. Some wore masks and at least one was carrying an ISIS flag, the state prosecutor told state-run Nile TV in a statement.

They positioned themselves at the building’s entrances and the front of the mosque shortly before the massive gunfire and loud explosions rang out.

By the time the attackers’ weapons went quiet, 305 people were dead, including 27 children, the prosecutor said Saturday. An additional 128 people were wounded.

The al Rawdah Sufi mosque is known as the birthplace of an important Sufi cleric. Sufism is a mystical branch of Islam that some jihadists consider heretical.

Survivors describe chaos, panic

Victims are seen on the floor of al Rawdah mosque following the gun and bomb attack Friday.

Victims are seen on the floor of al Rawdah mosque following the gun and bomb attack Friday.

Sitting outside a hospital emergency room, a survivor who did not want to be identified told CNN that he still had shrapnel in an eye that was covered by a bandage. He believes he survived because he was covered by the bodies of other victims as the attackers went around the mosque to ensure everyone was dead, he said.

“No one got out of the mosque,” said another witness at a nearby hospital. The man, who also declined to be identified out of fear of retaliation, said his father and eight other family members, including a brother and nephew, were killed.

The nation has set aside three days of national mourning and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has ordered the armed forces to build a memorial to those killed at the mosque, a statement on his official Facebook page said.

Ahmed El-Tayyeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, condemned the “barbaric attack” on the mosque and said Egyptians would prevail over terrorism with solidarity and determination.