Sinai has witnessed the deadliest terrorist attack of recent times on Nov 24. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, affiliated with ISIS and Ansar al-Islam, which has purported ties to Al-Qaeda are amongst the active militant groups in the region.
At least 235 worshippers were killed at a Sufi mosque in the town of Bir al-Abed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Oct 24, 2017. Another 109 people were injured. It is the deadliest terrorist attack in Egypt’s modern history. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but the perpetrators are believed to be Sunni militants loyal to the Islamic States of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) who view Sufi Muslims as apostates.
The attack began when a possible suicide bomb was detonated inside the mosque just as afternoon Friday Prayers were finishing. As people fled the mosque they were fired on by masked men in pickup trucks. Vehicles had been set on fire to keep anyone from escaping. When ambulances arrived to tend to the dead and wounded, the gunmen opened fire on the paramedics too increasing the number of casualties.
Egyptian President Gen. Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has promised a swift response against the perpetrators of the attack. “The armed forces and the police will avenge our martyrs and restore security and stability with the utmost force,” Sisi declared in a televised address.
Several hours later, Egyptian jetfighters descended on the mountains surrounding Bir al-Abed purportedly killing an unspecified number of fighters and destroying the vehicles used in the attack.
An Islamist insurgency has been underway in the Sinai since 2013 when Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi was ousted in a coup that brought Sisi to power. Until recently attacks had been mostly limited to military targets, check points and troop convoys.
The government also announced that in response to the attack it would be delaying the opening of the Rafah border crossing between the Sinai and the Gaza Strip. The crossing would allow crucial supplies into what is effectively an open-air prison for Palestinians maintained by Israel in conjunction with the Egyptian dictatorship.
An Islamist insurgency has been underway in the Sinai since 2013 when Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi was ousted in a coup that brought Sisi to power. Until recently attacks had been mostly limited to military targets, check points and troop convoys.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a Sunni Islamist militia which has been waging an insurgency against the Egyptian military in the Sinai, pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2014. The group claimed responsibility for the 2015 bombing of a Russian passenger jet which was flying out of the resort town of Sharm El Sheikh, killing all 224 on board.
A commander of the group declared in January that they would eradicate Sufis living in the Sinai including in the area where Friday’s attack took place. An elderly Sufi cleric was executed by the ISIS affiliate in late 2016 and Sufi shires have been targeted for destruction.
Other Islamist militias active in the Sinai include Ansar al-Islam a group which has purported ties to Al-Qaeda.