Attack on Egyptian mosque shows Islamic State remains a deadly threat but may also be a sign of desperate infighting
The attack on Friday represented a shocking escalation in the carnage, with Egyptian officials reporting 305 dead
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack on the Rawda mosque in Egypt’s sparsely populated Sinai Peninsula, but there were many reasons to suspect IS was responsible.
The Egyptian affiliate, which consists of up to 1,000 members, in recent months has stepped up attacks on Egyptian soldiers and police in the region and laid siege to Coptic Christian churches. Before Friday’s attack, the group was best known for its suspected role in the downing of Russia’s Metrojet Flight 9268 in 2015, which killed 224 Russian tourists.
The attack on Friday represented a shocking escalation in the carnage, with Egyptian officials reporting 305 dead. It also represented a new and risky kind of target for IS’s Egyptian affiliate. For the first time, the Egyptian branch of IS appeared to be targeting fellow Sunni Muslim civilians at prayer.
In the wake of the bloodshed, government officials and outside analysts were puzzling over the strategy behind the group’s latest horror.
Watch: Hundreds killed in Egypt mosque attack