[Al Jazeera] The Egyptian army says an air raid killed some of the attackers involved in Friday's massacre when at least 305 people died in a bomb-and-gun attack on a mosque. In a statement late on Friday, army front man Tamer Rifai said the Egyptian air force chased down the assailants who, according to officials, arrived in four 4WD vehicles and carried out the attack during noon prayers.
"The air forces chased the Death Eaters and discovered and destroyed a number of vehicles that were involved in carrying out the brutal terrorist attack ... Those on board were also killed," Rifai said.
The massacre occurred in Bir al-Abed, a town in North Sinai province.
The mosque - about 40km west of el-Arish, the historic provincial capital of North Sinai - was frequented by followers of Sufism, a more mystical form of Islam.
Death toll in Egypt mosque attack rises to 305
[DAWN] Egypt’s chief prosecutor said in a statement on Saturday that the attack on a Sinai mosque a day before has killed 305 people, including 27 children.
In his statement, Nabil Sadeq said that the attack also left 126 people maimed.
Sadeq said the attack was carried out by 25-30 hard boyz who arrived at the mosque in the small town of Bir al-Abd in five all-terrain vehicles. The hard boyz stationed themselves at the mosque’s main door and 12 windows before opening fire on worshippers inside. They also torched seven cars belonging to the worshippers that were parked outside.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, the deadliest by Islamic Death Eaters in Egypt’s modern history. The mosque is frequented by Sufi Moslems, a mystic school of Islam that hard boyz consider heretic.
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El-Sisi reportedly ordered Chief of staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces Sedki Sobhy and Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar to have the army conduct far-reaching military and security operations in the north and center of the Sinai Peninsula. Threat levels were also raised all across Egypt, with the Interior Ministry saying exiting security will be increased in places of worship and vital facilities.
Egyptian air force, infantry and civilian police forces will all participate, according to reports, under the direction of the army's chief of staff.
The Egyptian army said its attack on terrorist strongholds in northern Sinai was underway and published a video documenting alleged air force attacks. An Egyptian army spokesman said Friday dozens of terrorists were killed in such airstrikes.
Arabic-language Sky News reported 30 terrorists killed by Egyptian forces in the village of a-Risan in central Sinai as part of security raids, whereas the Al Arabiya network reported Egyptian infantrymen massively descended on several targets in Egyptian Rafah.
The attack took place only a day before the Rafah Border Crossing connecting Egypt and the Gaza Strip was slated to be reopened again for three days.
Many of those killed and wounded in the attack were reported to belong to the local a-Sawarka tribe, which refused to align itself with Islamic State forces in the peninsula and therefore suffered the alleged revenge attack.