After mosque carnage, Egypt planes pound militants’ dens

Cairo: The Egyptian Air Force on Saturday gunned down several militants and destroyed their vehicles, hours after over 305 worshippers were killed in a terrorist attack at a mosque in the country’s restive North Sinai region.

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.

Gunmen who attacked a mosque on Friday in Egypt’s North Sinai brandished an Islamic State flag as they opened fire through doorways and windows, killing more than 300 worshippers, including two dozen children, officials said on Saturday.

Egypt’s public prosecutor’s office, citing interviews with wounded survivors as part of its investigation, linked Islamic State militants, also known as Daesh, to the attack on the Al Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, west of El-Arish city.

“The worshippers were taken by surprise by these elements,” the prosecutor said in a statement. “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 gunmen, some wearing masks and military-style uniforms, had arrived in jeeps, surrounded the mosque and opened fire inside, sending panicked worshippers scrambling over each other to escape the carnage.

Earlier, local media reports quoting sources in the security force said the army launched “immediate and wide” ground and air raids and two drones attacked two vehicles belonging to militants in Al-Resha village near el-Rouda village.

Following the mosque attack, President Abdel Fattah el- Sisi had chaired an emergency meeting with officials to review security situation.

In a statement later, he pledged to respond with “brutal force” against militants. He had said that the “vile and treacherous” activity would not pass without a decisive punishment. Striking a mosque would be a shift in tactics for the Sinai militants.