Srinagar: At least 200 people have been killed and scores more injured in a devastating bomb and gun assault on a mosque in Egypt’s north Sinai, the Guardian reported on Friday.
As per the report the attack was one of the deadliest in the country in recent memory, marking a major escalation in Cairo’s battle with regional insurgents.
The death toll, reported by state media, rose repeatedly on Friday afternoon as more details emerged.
More than 50 ambulances ferried casualties from Al-Rawdah mosque in Bir Al-Abed, west of Arish city, to nearby hospitals. At least 125 people were injured.
A bomb ripped through the mosque as Friday prayers were finishing, then militants in four off-road vehicles approached and opened fire on worshipers, a military source told the Guardian.
No group claimed responsibility for the assault, but it was the deadliest yet in a region where, for the last three years, Egyptian security forces have battled an Islamic State insurgency that has killed hundreds of police and soldiers.
