Mass Shooting in Egyptian Mosque

Olivia Armstrong, Copy Editor

Egypt is left in the dust.

Yet another ruthless attack on civilians has taken place in north Egypt.

Hundreds died on Friday, Nov. 24 in a Egyptian mosque. However, no group has yet to claim responsibility for the attack. Many are left mourning over the lives lost, and the Egyptian government has expressed condolences as well.

During Friday prayers at around 12 p.m., an estimated 25 to 30 attackers walked into the al Rawdah Sufi mosque. Armed with machine guns, the group fired into the religious crowd after a explosion was heard near the mosque. They also lit bystanders cars on fire and shot at ambulances. The attack lasted an estimated 20 minutes.

According to CNN, the gunmen decided on ambush locations beforehand. Officials said the ambushers arrived in five SUV’s and were already armed with automatic machine guns. They were clothed in plain black shirts, camouflage pants and masks that fully covered their face.

The death toll reached an estimated 305 and another 128 injured as of Saturday.

Despite the fact that a large, uniform group carried out the attack, no association has yet to claim responsibility for the events. ISIS has a strong presence in the general area of the attack, northern Sinai; however, no one from the terrorist organization has spoken up yet about the events.

In 2015, a bomb brought down a Russian passenger jet into the Sinai Peninsula that killed 224 people. ISIS did claim its organization was the perpetrator of that attack.

After the attack, the Egyptian government called for three days of mourning.

In a televised speech, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the president of Egypt said, “This terrorist act will strengthen our resolve, steadfastness and will to stand up to, resist and battle against terrorism.” He described the attack as a war crime.

On the day of the attack, President Donald Trump, in a Tweet described on Twitter as something “we must defeat… militarily.” President Trump also said that the attack was horrible and cowardly in the same tweet.

Many are upset about the way the media covered this attack, or its lack thereof. Also on Twitter, Khaled Beydoun tweeted that “if this were in America or England, instead of Egypt, the entire world would know about it, and would be mourning it,” reaching an estimated 3,000 favorites and retweets combined.

Students agree. “It’s crazy how the media doesn’t report something as big as that, I had barely heard anything about it,” said senior Lanse Milburn.

The Egyptian president pledges to avenge [their] martyrs and restore security and stability with the utmost force” in the coming months. As of Nov. 29, president Sisi declared that the military had three months to regain peace and stability to the Sinai Peninsula.