The Egyptian state news agency MENA has reported the death toll from an attack on a mosque in the volatile northern Sinai Peninsula has risen to 235 people killed.
The attack appeared to be the latest by the area’s local Islamic State affiliate. The agency added that 109 people had been wounded.
The attack on the al-Rawda mosque, largely attended by Sufi Muslims, in the town of Bir al-Abd, 40 kilometres from the North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish.
Officials said militants in four off-road vehicles bombed the mosque and fired on worshippers during the sermon segment of Friday prayers.
Egypt’s presidency has declared three days of mourning.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has condemned the extremist attack on a mosque in the troubled Sinai Peninsula, calling it “criminal” and “cowardly” and expressing condolences to the victims and their families.
In a televised statement on Friday evening, Mr al-Sisi said that the attack “will not go unpunished” and that Egypt will persevere with its war on terrorism. The suffering of the victims was not in vain, he added, and will only “add to our insistence” to combat terrorism.
The UN Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have condemned the deadly attack on a mosque in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in “the strongest terms” and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
The council statement called it a “heinous and cowardly terrorist attack” and reiterated that all acts of terrorism “are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation”.
Read the article in The Australian (subscription required).