The government has declared a three-day period of mourning for the victims.
WEB DESK
At least 235 people were killed and 130 others injured when a bomb exploded near a mosque during Friday prayers in restive North Sinai region in Egypt.
State media reported today the bomb, which was planted near al-Rowda mosque in Al-Arish city, went off during the Friday prayer.
Egyptian media reports say at least 235 people have been killed in a bomb and gun attack on a mosque in the country’s northern Sinai Peninsula.
The attack occurred in al-Rawda in North Sinai province shortly after Friday prayers.
Egyptian state media MENA put the death toll at 235, citing an official security source. It also said that 120 people were wounded in the attack.
The government has declared a three-day period of mourning for the victims.
No group has claimed responsibility but local affiliates of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group have claimed previous attacks.
Security sources said, gunmen also opened fire on the people who tried to exit the mosque after the explosion. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
The Egypt government has announced three days of mourning, even as President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was set to hold an emergency meeting with officials to discuss the incident.
Egypt’s North Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by terrorists since the January 2011 revolution that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.
Officials said the attackers arrived in four 4WD vehicles and carried out their attack while the sermon was being delivered after Friday prayers.
Photo Courtesy : Egypt Idependent