Egypt says attackers had Islamic State flag

Retaliatory airstrikes after mosque attack death toll rises to 305

CAIRO: Gunmen who attacked a mosque in North Sinai on Saturday were carrying an Islamic State flag, Egyptian officials said yesterday as the state news agency reported the death toll had risen to 305, including 27 children.

Egypt’s military said they had carried out airstrikes and raids overnight against militants held responsible for the killings, the bloodiest attack in Egypt’s modern history.

The attack also left 128 people injured, the MENA state news agency reported, while Egypt’s public prosecutor’s office linked it to Islamic State militants, also known as Daesh.

‘‘They numbered between 25 and 30, carrying the Daesh flag and took up positions in front of the mosque door and its 12 windows with automatic rifles,’’ the prosecutor said.

The gunmen, some wearing masks and militarystyle uniforms, surrounded the mosque blocking windows and a door way and opened fire inside with automatic rifles, the statement said, citing their investigation and interviews with wounded survivors.

No group has claimed responsibility, but Egyptian forces are battling an Islamic State affiliate in the region, one of the surviving branches of the militant group after it suffered defeats by United Statesbacked forces in Iraq and Syria.

‘‘The air force has over the past few hours eliminated a number of outposts used by terrorist elements,’’ the army said.

Witnesses said gunmen set off a bomb at the end of Friday (local time) prayers at the Al Rawdah mosque in Bir alAbed, west of ElArish city, and then opened fire as worshippers tried to flee, shooting at ambulances and setting fire to cars to block roads. Images on state media showed bloodied victims and bodies covered in blankets inside the mosque.

Striking a mosque would be a shift in tactics for the Sinai militants, who have previously attacked troops and police and more recently tried to spread their insurgency to the mainland by hitting Christian churches and pilgrims.

The massive casualties in the Sinai attack and the targeting of a mosque stunned Egyptians who have struggled through instability after the 2011 uprising ousted longstanding leader Hosni Mubarak, and the years of protests that followed.

Local sources said some of the worshippers were Sufis, whom groups such as Islamic State consider targets because they revere saints and shrines, which for Islamists is tantamount to idolatry.

Islamic State has targeted Sufi and Shi’ite Muslims in other countries like Iraq.

The jihadists in Egypt’s Sinai have also attacked local tribes and their militias for working with the army and police.

Abdul Fattah alSisi, a former armed forces commander who supporters see as a bulwark against Islamist militants, promised the ‘‘utmost force’’ against those responsible for Saturday’s attack.

North Sinai, a mostly desert area which stretches from the Suez Canal eastwards to the Gaza Strip and Israel, has long been a security headache for Egypt and is a strategic region for Cairo because of its sensitive borders. — Reuters