VietPress USA (Nov. 25, 2017): Egypt with officially name as Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, and across from the Sinai Peninsula lies Saudi Arabia, although Jordan and Saudi Arabia do not share a land border with Egypt.

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Egypt Attack toll has reached 305. The number of victims of terrorist attacks perpetrated on Friday in the mosque in the north of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, went upto 305 people. This data was released on Saturday the country’s prosecutor general’s office.

According to report, among the dead were 27 children, while 128 other people were injured. As reported, 25 to 30 people were involved in thes attacks who arrived at the site  in five SUVs. Some of them were wearing masks. They shouted “Allahu Akbar”, and were waiving the banners of the terrorist organization “Islamic State”

On Friday during the noon prayer was a terrorist attack at a Sufi mosque Al-Rawda, 30 km from the frontier with the Gaza Strip town of El Arish. Militants staged a first explosion inside a place of worship, then fired indiscriminately at people who tried in panic to leave the scene.

None of the current extremist groups in Egypt have not yet claimed responsibility for the incident. However, with the greatest probability, the explosion are militants group “Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis” (“Supporters of Jerusalem”), loyal to the ISIS, and then replaced the name to “Vilayet Sina” (“Sinai Province”). It is this underground network, according to the security services, is behind most of the terrorist attacks in the country in the past years.

After the dreadful Egypt attack on the al-Rawda mosque in the town of Bir al-Abed, the president of Egypt Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has vowed to respond with “the utmost force”.

The  Egyptian military has said it has conducted air strikes on “terrorist” targets in response and fleeing worshippers were then gunned down. Dozens of gunmen waiting outside the mosque opened fire on those trying to escape after bombs were set off. No group has yet claimed the attack, the deadliest in recent memory.

The updated reports suggest that at least thirty children are among the dead and more than 100 people have been wounded. The assailants reportedly set parked vehicles on fire in the vicinity to block off access to the building and fired on ambulances trying to help victims.

“What is happening is an attempt to stop us from our efforts in the fight against terrorism,” Mr. Sisi said in a televised address hours after the attack.
“The armed forces and the police will avenge our martyrs and restore security and stability with the utmost force.”

The fight against the Islamist insurgency has been carried on by the Egyptian security forces for years in the Sinai Peninsula. The militants affiliated with so-called Islamic State (IS) have been behind scores of deadly attacks in the desert region.

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According to the Locals, the al-Rawda mosque is used by the local Sawarka tribe, which is known to cooperate with the security services against militants. It is also known to be popular with worshippers of Sufism, a mystical branch of Sunni Islam that is condemned by some jihadist groups.

The head of IS’s “religious police” in Sinai said last December that Sufis who did not “repent” would be killed after the group beheaded two elderly men reported to be Sufi clerics. The number of victims is unprecedented for an attack of this type, says our media associates. Further, she adds that this is the first time that worshippers inside a mosque have been targeted by militants in North Sinai.

An army spokesman said “terrorist spots”, where weapons and ammunition were reportedly stocked, had been bombed by air force jets on Friday in response. The official also said that several vehicles used in the attack had been located and destroyed. Three days of national mourning have been declared.