In the northern Sinai Peninsula, over 300 Muslims were killed in a brutal, military-style massacre at the Al-Rawda mosque in the town of Bir al-Abed on November 24, 2017. In addition to those murdered, more than 120 victims were wounded, making this the deadliest attack in modern Egyptian history. The act of terror took place during Friday prayers, mosques’ busiest time of the week. Among the 309 killed, 27 victims were children. Victims of this massacre were predominantly Sufi Muslims.

As per witness accounts, approximately 30 militants riding in five all-terrain vehicles displaying ISIS flags attacked the mosque with bombs and rocket-propelled grenades; worshippers were then shot at as they tried to escape. Though no one has yet claimed responsibility for this act, it is being treated as a terrorist attack, presumably by the ISIS-affiliated Islamic State-Sinai Province, a terror cell that has been active for approximately six years. The group hails from the lawless Sinai Peninsula that has increasingly become a hotbed of radical Islamic extremism. 

The Egyptian government retaliated with airstrikes on presumed fighter enclaves in the Sinai Peninsula. In addition, President Abdel el-Sissi of Egypt declared three days of national mourning. Expressing solidarity with the Egyptian people, the international community vehemently condemned this atrocity.

Sources: Vox, Reuters, the New York Times, BBC, NPR

Photo Source: Berthold Werner via Wikimedia Commons