At 1:50 PM EET on 24 November 2017, the al-Rawda mosque was attacked by roughly 40 gunmen during Friday prayers. The mosque is located in the village of Al-Rawda[6] east of the town of Bir al-Abed in Egypt'sNorth Sinai Governorate. It is one of the main mosques associated with the JaririyaSufi order, one of the largest Sufi orders in North Sinai. The Jaririya order is named for its founder, Sheikh Eid Abu Jarir, who was a member of the Sawarka tribe and the Jarira clan. The Jarira clan resides in the vicinity of Bir al-Abed.[7][8] The attack killed 311 people and injured at least 128, making it the deadliest attack in Egyptian history.[2] It was the second-deadliest terrorist attack of 2017, after the Mogadishu bombings on 14 October.[9] The attack was universally condemned by many world leaders and organizations.
Attack
Al-Rawda Mosque, which is located on Sinai's main coastal highway connecting the city of Port Said to Gaza, belongs to the local Jarir clan, of the Sawarka tribe, who follow the Jaririya (Gaririya) Sufi order[10][11][12][13]—an offshoot of the movement of Abu Ahmed al-Ghazawi,[14][15] of the broader Darqawa order.[16] The mosque is on the road between El Arish and Bir al-Abed.[17] The mosque has a smaller zawiyah, a Sufi lodge, attached.[18]
According to local media, attackers in four off-road vehicles planted three bombs; the attackers used the burning wrecks of cars to block off escape routes. After their detonation, they launched rocket propelled grenades and opened fire on worshippers during the crowded Friday prayer at al-Rawda near Bir al-Abed.[11] When ambulances arrived to transport the wounded to hospitals, the attackers opened fire on them as well, having selected ambush points from which to target them. Local residents quickly responded, bringing the wounded to hospitals in their own cars and trucks, and even taking up weapons to fight back.[3][19][20]
Casualties
311 people were killed in the attack, including 27 children, and at least 128 other people were wounded.[2][7][1] Many of the victims worked at a nearby salt factory and were at the mosque for Friday prayers.[21][11]
Responsibility
No group claimed responsibility for the attack,[20] although there were reports that the attack appeared to be the work of Islamic State's Wilayat Sinai branch.[3] On 25 November, the Egyptian public prosecutor's office, citing interviews with survivors, said the attackers brandished the Islamic State flag.[22][23]
Islamist militants have been active in the Sinai since July 2013, killing at least 1,000 Egyptian security forces personnel.[24] According to The New York Times, in January 2017 an interview of an insurgent commander in Sinai appeared in issue five of the Islamic State magazine Rumiyah, where the commander condemned Sufi practices and identified the district where the attack occurred as one of three areas where Sufis live in Sinai that Islamic State intended to "eradicate."[2] The community had been repeatedly threatened to refrain from Sufi practices.[25]
Jund al-Islam, an al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group in Sinai who were formerly affiliated with ISIL,[26] declared their innocence and condemned the attack on the al-Rawda mosque.[27]
Reactions
Egypt declared three days of national mourning following the attack.[28] Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said the attack "shall not go unpunished".[20] The President also ordered the government to allocate funds for compensating families of the dead.[29]
The Muslim Brotherhood wrote on Twitter and Facebook that it "condemns in the strongest words" the attack and that those responsible should "renounce extremism and violence".[30][31]Al-Azhar University, Egypt's oldest accredited university, issued a statement condemning the attacks, adding "terrorism will be routed".[32][33]
The attack was widely condemned by the international community, with many world leaders issuing official statements and social media posts.[20]Turkey declared one day of national mourning on 27 November.[35]
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights strongly condemned the attacks,[37] and weeks later issued a report that considered the massacre an attempt of genocide against the Sufi Muslim community of the Sinai Peninsula.[38] EOHR also called upon the Egyptian government to provide adequate protection for minorities.
President el-Sisi vowed to respond with "the utmost force". In the days immediately after the attack the Air Force announced that it had pursued and destroyed some of the militants' vehicles and weapons stocks.[28] Airstrikes were also conducted in the neighboring mountains.[44]
In February 2018, Egypt responded to this attack with major air strikes and land assaults against terrorist positions in Sinai.[45]
^Kholaif, Dahlia (25 November 2017). "Death Toll Rises to More Than 305 in Mosque Attack in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula". The Wall Street Journal. wsj.com. (subscription required). Retrieved 25 November 2017. "Al Rawda mosque, located about 25 kilometers west of Al Arish, is associated with the Sawarka tribe which follows the Sufi order of Jarir, in reference to Sheikh Eid Abu Jreir, a Sufi icon who lived in Sinai decades ago."
^Taylor, Adam. How parts of Egypt's rugged Sinai peninsula have become a terrorist hot spot, The Washington Post (24 November 2017): "It will also reaffirm that the Sinai Peninsula is one of the deadliest places for terrorist attacks in the world. The attack near Bir al-Abd is the second-deadliest terrorist attack of 2017 to date, second only to a suicide bombing last month in Mogadishu, Somalia, that left more than 358 dead.
^Farid, Sonia (26 November 2017). "Egypt mosque attack: Is Sufism a new target for terrorists in Sinai?" Al Arabiya – English. Retrieved 26 November 2017. "Al-Rawda Mosque is home to the Gaririya Sufi order, one of the largest in North Sinai. The Gaririya, an offshoot of the Bedouin al-Ahmadiya order, is named after its founder Sheikh Eid Abu Garir, who is considered the godfather of Sufism in the Sinai Peninsula and hails from the Sawarka tribe, the second largest in North Sinai."
