Egypt: at least 155 killed in mosque attack

Pakistan Press Club – Egypt.

At least 85 people have been killed in a mosque attack in Egypt’s northern Sinai province, according to Mena State news agency.

Suspected militants set off a bomb and opened fire, targeting supporters of the security forces attending prayers there, Reuters reports.

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In summary

– Bomb and gun attack at a mosque in Egypt.

• At least 155 people killed and more than 120 injured.

• Witnesses have said gunmen were shooting at ambulances

• Three days of mourning announced by Egyptian government.

• It happened in the northern Sinai region where Egypt’s security forces are fighting an ISIL insurgency.

Egypt’s bloody year

Militants have mostly targeted security forces in their attacks since bloodshed in the Sinai worsened after 2013 when Sisi, then an armed forces commander, led the overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

But jihadists have also targeted local Sinai tribes that are working with the armed forces, branding them traitors for cooperating with the army and police.

In July this year, at least 23 soldiers were killed when suicide car bombs hit two military checkpoints in the Sinai, an attack claimed by Islamic State.

Militants have tried to expand beyond the largely barren, desert Sinai Peninsula into Egypt’s heavily populated mainland, hitting Coptic Christian churches and pilgrims.

In May, gunmen attacked a Coptic group traveling to a monastery in southern Egypt, killing 29.