The Egyptian Army said the country’s air force had destroyed the vehicles used in Friday’s attack on a mosque in North Sinai province that left 235 people dead, AFP reported. At least 109 people were injured after militants set off a bomb and opened fire at the Al Rawdah Mosque in Bir al-Abed, around 50 km west of North Sinai Capital El-Arish.
The Egyptian air force had destroyed terrorist location where ammunition and weapons were stocked, Army spokesperson Tamer el-Refai told AFP. The military said it had conducted air strikes in several mountainous areas surrounding Al Rawdah mosque where militants were believed to be hiding out, Reuters reported.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.
This is one of the deadliest attacks in the region. Images on social media showed bloodied bodies covered with sheets.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has pledged to respond with brutal force. “The armed forces and the police will avenge our martyrs and restore security and stability with the utmost force,” Sisi said in a televised address. The president declared three days of national mourning.
At least a dozen attackers in four off-road vehicles charged in to the mosque during Friday prayers, opening fire at worshippers, AP reported. The attackers had fired rocket-propelled grenades and shot people who were trying to escape the building.
United States President Donald Trump condemned the attack, calling it “horrible and cowardly”. “The world cannot tolerate terrorism, we must defeat them militarily and discredit the extremist ideology that forms the basis of their existence!” he said on Twitter. “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.”
The US president, who was given the honour in 2016 after his surprising election victory over Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton, has had a difficult relationship with the magazine. In June, Time had asked the Trump organisation to remove framed copies of a fake cover featuring Donald Trump, which were displayed in at least five of the president’s golf clubs. Dated March 1, 2009, it featured Trump and the headline “Donald Trump: The ‘Apprentice’ is a television smash!”