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At least 305 killed, among them 27 children in Egypt mosque attack; most deadly attack since 9/11

CAIRO — Gunmen attacked a packed mosque in Egypt’s restive North Sinai province on Friday (Nov 24) and set off a bomb, killing at least 305 people, including 27 children, in one of the country’s deadliest attacks in recent memory, state media reported.

Egyptians walk past bodies following a gun and bombing attack at the Rawda mosque. A bomb explosion ripped through the mosque before gunmen opened fire on the worshippers. Photo: AFP

Egyptians walk past bodies following a gun and bombing attack at the Rawda mosque. A bomb explosion ripped through the mosque before gunmen opened fire on the worshippers. Photo: AFP

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CAIRO — Gunmen attacked a packed mosque in Egypt’s restive North Sinai province on Friday (Nov 24) and set off a bomb, killing at least 305 people, including 27 children, in one of the country’s deadliest attacks in recent memory, state media reported.

A bomb explosion ripped through the Rawda mosque roughly 40 km west of the North Sinai capital of El-Arish before gunmen opened fire on the worshippers gathered for weekly Friday prayers, officials said.

State television reported at least 305 people were killed and 130 wounded in the attack, which is unprecedented in a four-year insurgency by Islamist extremist groups.

Singapore has strongly condemned the attack, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying in a statement on Saturday that "those responsible for this odious act must be brought to justice".

The ministry added: "We express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured a swift recovery.  Singapore stands together with the Egyptian government and people against the scourge of terrorism in this time of national mourning."

There are no reports, thus far, of Singaporeans being injured in the incident. Singaporeans in Egypt who need urgent consular assistance should contact the embassy in Cairo or the ministry's 24-hour duty office.

No group has yet to claim responsibility for Friday's terrorist attack, which officials have called the deadliest in Egypt’s modern history. 

The Egypt branch of the Islamic State (IS) group has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers, and also civilians accused of working with the authorities, in attacks in the north of the Sinai peninsula.

They have also targeted followers of the mystical Sufi branch of Sunni Islam as well as Christians.

The victims included civilians and conscripts praying at the mosque.

A tribal leader and head of a Bedouin militia that fights IS told AFP that the mosque is known as a place of gathering for Sufis.

The Islamic State shares the puritan Salafi view of Sufis as heretics for seeking the intercession of saints.

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.

The jihadists 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. AGENCIES

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