More details have emerged about the savage slaughter of 300 people at a mosque in Egypt yesterday.
Dozens of suspected ISIS terrorists created an arena of death around the holy house by blocking off escape routes with burnt-out cars before gunning down the penned-in worshippers.
In a meticulously planned attack – the worst Islamist atrocity in Egypt’s modern history – the murderers surrounded the mosque in off-road cars and fired rocket-propelled grenades inside.
When the worshippers – many of whom were Sufis, a mystical Islamic sect despised by Sunni jihadists – fled the explosions, they were caught in the trap and massacred.
Dozens of suspected ISIS terrorists created an arena of death around the holy house by blocking off escape routes with burnt-out cars before gunning down the penned-in worshippers. Pictured: Victims in the mosque
The victims included civilians and conscripts praying at the mosque, with reports suggesting the terrorists launched rockets before firing on fleeing worshippers. Pictured: The scene after the attack
In a meticulously planned attack – the worst Islamist atrocity in Egypt’s modern history – the murderers surrounded the mosque in off-road cars and fired rocket-propelled grenades inside. Pictured: A burnt-out car outside the mosque
The murderers then fled the Al-Rawdah mosque (pictured) – in Bir al-Abed, near El-Arish on the Sinai Peninsula – before being blown up hours later by Egyptian warplanes
Thirty children were among the innocents gunned down and blown up.
At least 109 were also hurt during the horrifying bloodshed, according to the state news agency.
The murderers then fled the Al-Rawdah mosque – in Bir al-Abed, near El-Arish on the Sinai Peninsula – before being blown up hours later by Egyptian warplanes.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but ISIS has in the past vowed to rid Sinai, and Egypt, of Sufis.
A local ISIS affiliate is spearheading the insurgency in Sinai, where government forces have battled militants for years.
President Abdel Fattah al Sisi convened an emergency security meeting soon after the attack, state television reported. Pictured: Victims in the mosque
Some reports claimed a rocket was fired into the children’s kindergarten area of the mosque before the terrorists – in military uniforms and wielding black flags – slaughtered those who fled. Pictured: People in the area after the savage attack
A still taken from a video footage shows people and ambulances waiting to evacuate victims outside the mosque
Several hours later Egyptian air force jets destroyed vehicles used in the attack and ‘terrorist’ locations where weapons and ammunition were stocked, an army spokesman said. Pictured: The aftermath of the attack
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared three days of mourning will begin today, with a special prayer service starting this morning.
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’.
He went on: ‘What is happening is an attempt to stop us from our efforts in the fight against terrorism, to destroy our efforts to stop the terrible criminal plan that aims to destroy what is left of our region.’
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (pictured) vowed to respond to the attack with ‘brute force’
Several hours later Egyptian air force jets destroyed vehicles used in the attack and ‘terrorist’ locations where weapons and ammunition were stocked, an army spokesman said.
President Sissi also ordered the construction of a mausoleum in memory of the slain.
He did not say where it would stand or who would be commissioned to build it, but the decision to have one reflects the depth of grief felt by the government over the death of so many people.
A witness of the attack said: ‘They were shooting at people as they left the mosque.
‘They were shooting at the ambulances, too.’
Some reports claimed a rocket was fired into the children’s kindergarten area of the mosque before the terrorists – in military uniforms and wielding black flags – slaughtered those who fled.
A tribal leader and head of a Bedouin militia that fights Islamic State said that the mosque is known as a place of gathering for Sufis.
The Islamic State group shares the puritan Salafi view of Sufis as heretics for seeking the intercession of saints.
A tribal leader and head of a Bedouin militia that fights Islamic State said that the mosque is known as a place of gathering for Sufis. Pictured: People outside the mosque on Friday
An injured man, identified as Reda, who survived Sinai mosque attack, receiving treatment at a hospital in Cairo
Cairo’s international airport boosted security following the attack, with more troopers and forces seen patrolling passenger halls, conducting searches and manning checkpoints at airport approaches.
Resident Ashraf el-Hefny said many of the victims were workers at a nearby salt firm who had come for Friday services at the mosque, which had contained hundreds of worshippers.
‘Local people brought the wounded to hospital on their own cars and trucks,’ he said.
US President Donald Trump used the attack to make the case for building a wall with Mexico and a travel ban on citizens of countries plagued by terrorism.
In response to the savagery, the lights of the Eiffel Tower in Paris were switched off
The President used Twitter to make his case for building a wall with Mexico and imposing a travel ban
In the aftermath of the atrocity, he tweeted: ‘Will be calling the President of Egypt in a short while to discuss the tragic terrorist attack, with so much loss of life.
‘We have to get TOUGHER AND SMARTER than ever before, and we will. Need the WALL, need the BAN! God bless the people of Egypt.’
Earlier he condemned the mass murder as a ‘horrible and cowardly terrorist attack on innocent and defenseless worshipers’, adding: ‘The world cannot tolerate terrorism.’
British prime minister Theresa May said she was ‘appalled by the sickening attack’, which she declared an ‘evil and cowardly act’.
UK foreign minister Boris Johnson, meanwhile, condemned the ‘barbaric attack’ in a post on Twitter, while his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed his condolences to the families of victims of the ‘despicable attack’.
Ahmed Abul Gheit, head of the Arab League, which is based in Cairo, condemned the ‘terrifying crime which again shows that Islam is innocent of those who follow extremist terrorist ideology,’ his spokesman said in a statement.
In response to the savagery, the lights of the Eiffel Tower in Paris were switched off.
The jihadists had previously kidnapped and beheaded an elderly Sufi leader, accusing him of practising magic which Islam forbids, and abducted Sufi practitioners later released after ‘repenting.’
The group has killed more than 100 Christians in church bombings and shootings in Sinai and other parts of Egypt, forcing many to flee the peninsula.
The military has struggled to quell the jihadists who pledged allegiance to IS in November 2014.
IS regularly conducts attacks against soldiers and policemen in the peninsula bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, although the frequency and scale of such attacks has diminished over the past year.
They have since increasingly turned to civilian targets, attacking not only Christians and Sufis but also Bedouin Sinai inhabitants accused of working with the army.
Aside from IS, Egypt also faces a threat from Al-Qaeda-aligned jihadists who operate out of neighbouring Libya.
A group calling itself Ansar al-Islam – Supporters of Islam in Arabic – claimed an October ambush in Egypt’s Western Desert that killed at least 16 policemen.
Many of those killed belonged to the interior ministry’s secretive National Security Service.
The military later conducted air strikes on the attackers, killing their leader Emad al-Din Abdel Hamid, a most wanted jihadist who was a military officer before joining an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group in Libya’s militant stronghold of Derna.
Reacting to the news, Britain’s ambassador to Egypt, John Casson, tweeted: ‘I am disgusted by the evil attack that killed & injured so many Egyptians in Sinai today. On behalf of the UK my deep condolences to all involved.
‘These attacks on people praying in mosques & churches only strengthen our determination to stand together, & defeat terrorism & hate.’
Police said militants in four off-road vehicles bombed the mosque and fired on worshippers during the sermon segment of Friday prayers. Pictured: Al-Rawdah mosque
US President Donald Trump has condemned the mass murder as a ‘horrible and cowardly terrorist attack on innocent and defenseless worshipers’, adding: ‘The world cannot tolerate terrorism’
A tribal leader and head of a Bedouin militia that fights Islamic State said that the mosque is known as a place of gathering for Sufis. Pictured: Inside the mosque after the attack
Cairo’s international airport boosted security following the attack, with more troopers and forces seen patrolling passenger halls, conducting searches and manning checkpoints at airport approaches. Pictured: People gathering outside the mosque after the attack today
British prime minister Theresa May said she was ‘appalled by the sickening attack’, which she declared an ‘evil and cowardly act’