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Egypt suffers worst attack as 235 killed in assault on mosque

Militants armed with guns and explosives stormed on Friday a crowded mosque in Egypt’s restive northern Sinai, killing at least 235 people and wounding 109 others in the deadliest attack in the country in recent memory.

The assault targeted people gathered for Friday prayers at a mosque frequented by Sufi Muslims near the coastal town of El-Arish. Attacks on mosques are rare in Egypt, where the majority of the 95 million population is Muslim. Sufi Islam is a mystical interpretation of the religion and its followers are considered heretics by jihadist movements such as Islamic State.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But Sinai province, a triangular piece of land bordering Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal, has been the main battleground in the government’s fight against local militants who’ve declared allegiance to Islamic State. The groups have killed hundreds of police and soldiers in recent years. Lately they’ve turned their guns increasingly on civilians, with attacks on churches packed for Christmas and Easter prayers, and now on Muslim worshipers.

“This is a shift in the tactics of the terrorists,” said Hossam El-Rifai, a member of parliament for northern Sinai. “An attack on civilians at Friday prayers is not something we have been used to seeing.”

While the violence isn’t seen as threatening the stability of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi’s government, it has devastated the tourist industry, a vital pillar of an economy that’s struggling back to life after years of political upheaval.

El-Sisi called a meeting of his security committee and made a televised statement vowing to avenge the dead and restore stability. He also said that those who supported, financed or incited the attack would face justice. “We will respond to this act with brutal force,” el-Sisi said.

U.S. President Donald Trump called the attack “horrible and cowardly” in a Twitter posting.

The attack is the biggest of its kind in recent memory. The last comparable assault took place in 2015, when Islamic State affiliates bombed a Russian passenger plane carrying holidaymakers from the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, killing 224 people.

The militants have waged a campaign against Coptic Christians that saw most of that community flee northern Sinai earlier this year. Violence has spilled over to major cities like Cairo and Alexandria too, with attacks on churches.

“This represents the scary prospect that the list of targets they are willing to pursue is growing,” said Timothy Kaldas, non-resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. “It is hard to know, however, if they were targeted because they were Sufis or because they were perceived to be collaborating with the government.”

On Friday, militants in four vehicles drove up to the Rawda mosque, set off an improvised explosive device outside the building and opened fire on people praying inside, according to a senior official in the north Sinai security directorate who asked not to be named. Locals took up weapons to help thwart the attackers, the official said.

The suspects fled as security forces arrived but not before setting vehicles on fire and blocking the road to slow the arrival of emergency services. Foreign media access to northern Sinai is restricted, but state television showed orange ambulances lined up and rescue workers tending to casualties on stretchers.

The mosque is known to be frequented by Sufis but it’s also on the main highway that runs parallel to the Mediterranean coast toward the Gaza Strip, so it draws in passers-by and local residents, particularly for Friday prayers.

The Sinai jihadists have attacked Sufi shrines with increasing frequency over the past year and have kidnapped and killed Sufi preachers, posting images of the executions online.

A former army chief, el-Sisi overthrew President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in mid-2013 following mass protests against his one-year rule. He went on to win a presidential election on a promise to crush Islamist groups. The Brotherhood has since been outlawed, with thousands of its members jailed or exiled, while el-Sisi has stepped up war on jihadist groups in northern Sinai.

The president said Egypt would not back down from that policy after the attack. “Egypt is facing terrorism on behalf of the entire region and the aim behind what is happening is to stop us from confronting terrorism,” he said.

Egypt has helped broker a reconciliation between Palestinian factions and sought the help of Hamas to control the movement of militants and weapons between Gaza and Sinai. It’s also joined a Saudi-led effort to isolate Qatar, partly on the grounds of its alleged support for Islamist groups.

Friday’s attack has cast doubt on plans to ease restrictions at the Gaza border, and raised broader questions about the effectiveness of el-Sisi’s security strategy.

“The attack will, over the medium-term, damage el-Sisi’s credibility as the figure that can protect Egypt, particularly if the security situation does not markedly improve,” Hani Sabra of political risk analyst Alef Advisory said in a note. “And it probably won’t.”

With assistance from Tarek El-Tablawy Donna Abu-Nasr Alaa Shahine and Dana Khraiche