Sisi vows to respond to Sinai attack 'with brute force

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi promised to respond “using brute force” after a deadly terrorist attack on a mosque in the Sinai Peninsula killed at least 235 people.

کد خبر: ۷۴۹۹۵۲

تاریخ: ۰۳ آذر ۱۳۹۶ - ۲۲:۲۸

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi promised to respond "using brute force” after a deadly terrorist attack on a mosque in the Sinai Peninsula killed at least 235 people.

Al-Sisi said that the military and police "will avenge our martyrs” and will respond "using brute force against those fragments of terrorists,” quoted the Al-Ahram newspaper.

"This evil terrorist attack will only make us more determined, solid, and strong to fight against terrorism,” he stressed.

The president added that current events in Sinai are "a reflection of efforts in fighting terrorism,” telling Egyptians to be sure that the country’s current fight is the "most honorable against the evil powers.”

"We will fight terrorism with unbreakable power and determination," Al-Sisi stressed.

The attack began when a bomb explosion ripped through the Rawda mosque, frequented by Sufis and located roughly 40 kilometers west of the North Sinai capital of El-Arish.

Gunmen then opened fire on the worshipers, who had gathered for weekly Friday prayers, as they attempted to flee and used the congregants' vehicles they had set alight to block routes to the mosque, reported AFP.

The state prosecutor's office said in a statement that 235 people were killed and 109 wounded in the attack, the scale of which is unprecedented in a four-year insurgency by Islamist extremist groups.

Most of the attacks in the Sinai Peninsula have been claimed by the Sinai Province, the Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State (ISIS) which pledged allegiance to the jihadists in 2014.

Last month, ISIS claimed an attack in northern Sinai which claimed the lives of six Egyptian soldiers.

In September, ISIS killed 18 people in an attack on a security convoy in Egypt's North Sinai.