Gunmen who attacked worshippers during Friday prayers in Egypt’s North Sinai were carrying an Islamic State flag and were between 25 and 30 in number.
Gunmen who attacked worshippers during Friday prayers in Egypt’s North Sinai, killing at least 305 and injuring 128, were carrying an Islamic State flag and were between 25 and 30 in number, officials said on Saturday.
The gunmen, some wearing masks and military-style uniforms, surrounded the mosque blocking windows and a doorway and opened fire inside with automatic rifles, the public prosecutor’s office said in a statement, citing their investigation and interviews with wounded survivors.
“They numbered between 25 and 30, carrying the Daesh flag and took up positions in front of the mosque door and its 12 windows with automatic rifles,” the statement said using an Arabic term for Islamic State.
The terrorists used five vehicles in the attack and torched 7 vehicles owned by worshippers, the statement from the office of Egypt's General Prosecutor Nabil Sadek said.
The prosecutor said that according to the injured people, some of the terrorists were masked and others were not and all of them were dressed in military-like outfits.
After the bomb ripped through the mosque, the gunmen on four off-road vehicles opened fire on the worshippers who tried to escape from the site after the explosion, it said.
The death toll from the deadliest terror attack has risen to 305, including 27 children, the statement said.
128 people were injured in the attack, it added.
Speaking to state-run Masriya TV station, Egyptian health ministry spokesman Khalid Mujahid described the incident as a "terrorist attack."
One report said the target appeared to be supporters of the security forces who were praying at the mosque.
Local people were also quoted as saying that followers of Sufism, or Islamic mysticism, regularly gathered at the mosque.
Islamist jihadist groups, including so-called Islamic State (IS), see Sufis as heretics.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack and there is no word yet on what happened to the terrorists involved.
Hours after the attack, the Egyptian air force gunned down several militants and destroyed their vehicles.
Egypt’s military said on Saturday it had carried out air strikes and raids overnight against militants held responsible for the attack.
“The air force has over the past few hours eliminated a number of outposts used by terrorist elements,” the army said.
“The air force has over the past few hours eliminated a number of outposts used by terrorist elements,” the army said.
Army spokesperson Tamer el-Refai said in a statement that the air forces launched retaliatory attacks on terror hideouts in the surrounding area of North Sinai, killing militants and destroying vehicles used in the deadly attack.
He said arms and ammunition depots of the militants were also targeted.
Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el- Sissi has ordered construction of a mausoleum in memory of the people killed in the attack.
A presidential statement did not say where the mausoleum would be built or who would be commissioned to build it but the move reflects the depth of grief felt by the government over the death of over 300 people.
(With agency inputs)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Egypt-mosque.jpg")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}