Chieftain: Al-Rawdah Mosque attack conducted by 14 assailants

CAIRO – 27 of November 2017: A chieftain of a tribe from Sinai Essa el-Kharrafeen revealed some details about al-Rawdah Mosque attack on Friday, assuring that the assailants were taking orders from their terrorist leaders during the assault to fatally continue shooting worshipers.

In an interview in a TV show televised on Sunday evening, the chieftain told that the terrorists who get into the mosque for shooting prayers were 14 persons including five people from Sinai were face-covered while others were from outsider elements.

Nearly 305 worshipers were killed when unidentified militants attacked a crowded mosque during Friday prayers in the North Sinai, which included 30 children; it took nearly 5 hours to bury them in their final resting place.

He noted that terrorist groups are usually using the term “Amir” or “Prince in English” referring to the “leader,” but one of these assailants used the word “Rayyes” or “boss in English,” a matter that indicated that there were mercenaries participating in the massacre.

He clarified that there were two assailants standing outside the mosque to shoot anyone seek to escape during the attack, while the other attackers were shooting people from windows or from inside the mosque, adding assailants fled the scene using five SUVs.
The chieftain suggested that the terrorist groups, by implementing this attack, aimed to prove their existence especially after they continuously being raided by the Egyptian military.

According to eyewitnesses, the 30 terrorists initially arrived riding SUVs, which they left 150 meters away from the mosque. They triggered anexplosionin the vicinity of the mosque, and opened fire on the worshippers inside and outside the holy house. The attackers gunned down the trapped worshipers in a horrific 20 minutes massacre. They also targeted ambulances at the crime scene and set nearby cars ablaze.

In a strong and serious condemnation to the attack, President Sisi spoke to the public on Friday, vowing to respond with “brute force against that small band of extremist terrorists.”