Egypt mosque attack: Bomb and gun assault in North Sinai kills at least 235 people - as it happened
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Your support makes all the difference.At least 235 people have been killed after suspected militants set off a bomb and opened fire at a mosque in Egypt's restive northern Sinai province.
The attack on Friday targeted supporters of the security forces attending prayers there, two eyewitnesses and a security source said.
Eyewitnesses at Al Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, near Arish city, told local media ambulances rushed to take the wounded to nearby hospitals.
A total of 235 people had been confirmed dead, a health ministry spokesperson said, adding it is feared the toll will rise.
Egypt has been fighting a vicious Isis insurgency in Sinai for the last three years. Friday's attack comes after a spate of recent bombings targeting the police and army.
While most militant attacks target the security forces, hundreds of civilians have been killed in the violence. Attacks outside the region have targeted Egypt's Christian minority.
President Abdel Fattah al Sisi has convened an emergency security meeting in Cairo.
Three police officers say the extremists attacked the al-Rawdah mosque in the town of Bir al-Abd, 40 km (25 miles) from the North Sinai provincial capital of el-Arish, reports AP.
They say men in four off-road vehicles opened fire on worshipers during Friday prayers.
Victims are being transferred to local hospitals, they added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief reporters.
The Egyptian government has declared three days of national mourning, according to state television.
Militants have reportedly attacked ambulances taking the wounded to hospital, according to the Egyptian Health Ministry.
State media showed images of bloodied victims and bodies covered in blankets inside the Al Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, west of the city of El Arish. At least 115 people died and another 80 people were wounded, a state news agency reported.
"They were shooting at people as they left the mosque," a local resident whose relatives were at the scene told Reuters. "They were shooting at the ambulances too."
Arabiya news channel and some local sources said some of the worshippers were sufis who hardliners such as Islamic State regard as apostates because they revere saints and shrines, which for Islamists is tantamount to idolatry.
The attack is the largest single targeting of Egyptian civilians and the first on a large mosque congregation since the Isis affiliate began its campaign of violence against the state following the military's 2013 overthrow of an elected but divisive Islamist president.
Sheikh Sabah IV Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, emir of Kuwait, has sent condolences to Egyptian president Abdelfattah Al-Sisi over the victims of the bomb attack.
Condemning these "criminial heinous acts", the emir voiced his "solidarity and sympathy" with Egypt.
Citing official sources, Egyptian state news agency MENA says 120 people are also confirmed wounded in the attack
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