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A8 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 25 November 2017
Egypt: Militants kill at least 235 in attack on Sinai mosque

By ASHRAF SWEILAM salt factory who had come
BRIAN ROHAN for Friday services at the
Associated Press mosque.
EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Mili- “Local people brought the
tants attacked a crowd- wounded to hospital on
ed mosque during Friday their own cars and trucks,”
prayers in the Sinai Penin- he said by telephone.
sula, setting off explosives, No one immediately
spraying worshippers with claimed responsibility for
gunfire and killing at least the attack. But IS has tar-
235 people in the deadli- geted Sufis several times
est ever attack by Islamic in the area in the past, no-
extremists in Egypt.The at- tably beheading a lead-
tack targeted a mosque ing Sufi religious figure, the
frequented by Sufis, mem- blind sheikh Suleiman Abu
bers of Islam’s mystical Heraz, last year and posting
movement, in the north Si- photos of the killing online.
nai town of Bir al-Abd. Egypt’s presidency de-
Islamic militants, including clared a three-day mourn-
the local affiliate of the Is- ing period, as President
lamic State group, consider Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi con-
Sufis heretics because of Relatives of Sheikh Sulieman Ghanem, 75, center, surround him as he receives medical treatment vened a high-level meet-
their less literal interpreta- at Suez Canal University hospital in Ismailia, Egypt, Friday, Nov. 24, 2017, after he was injured dur- ing of security officials.
tions of the faith. ing an attack on a mosque. In a statement afterward,
The startling bloodshed, (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) el-Sissi said the attack “will
which also wounded at The affiliate also is believed on the hundreds of wor- wrapped up in sheets were not go unpunished” and
least 109, was the latest sign to have been behind the shippers attending the ser- laid across the mosque that Egypt will persevere
of how more than three 2016 downing of a Russian mon in the mosque. floor, according to images with its war on terrorism.
years of fighting in Sinai has passenger jet that killed 226 They also blocked off es- circulating on social media. The suffering of the victims
been unable to crush an in- people. cape routes from the area Relatives queuing up out- was not in vain, he added,
surgency waged by the IS But this was the first major by blowing up cars and side the hospital as ambu- and will only “add to our
affiliate. militant attack on a Muslim leaving the burning wrecks lances raced back and insistence” to combat ex-
Seeking to spread the vio- mosque, and it eclipsed blocking the roads, three forth. tremists.
lence, the militants the any past attacks of its kind, police officers on the scene The state news agency Addressing the nation later
past year have carried even dating back to a pre- said, speaking on condition MENA put the death toll at on television, he repeated
out deadly bombings on vious Islamic militant insur- of anonymity because they 235. his view that Egypt fighting
churches in the capital, gency in the 1990s. were not authorized to talk Resident Ashraf el-Hefny a battle against militancy
Cairo, and other cities, kill- The militants opened fire to the press. said many of the victims on behalf of the rest of the
ing dozens of Christians. from four off-road vehicles Dozens of bloodied bodies were workers at a nearby world.q

‘Gunfire’ sparks panic in London, but police find nothing

By JILL LAWLESS ing armed officers to the one woman suffered a mi-
Associated Press scene, cordoning off sever- nor injury while leaving the
LONDON (AP) — Shoppers al blocks and telling people station.
scattered in panic and to avoid the area. The force, which patrols the
police flooded one of Lon- Some stores filled with train and subway network,
don’s busiest areas Friday people taking shelter; oth- said it was investigating
after multiple reports of ers were evacuated. At what had caused the ini-
shots being fired at Oxford upmarket department tial report of shots inside the
Circus subway station. store Selfridges, shoppers station.
But an hour later police said were ordered to leave. At After declaring the incident
they had found no sign of least three heavily armed over, the Metropolitan Po-
any gunshots, suspects or men believed to be police lice said that “given the
casualties. could be seen on the esca- nature of the information
The panic erupted on one lators inside. received, the Met respond-
of the busiest shopping About an hour after the first ed in line with our existing
days of the year, in a jit- Police officers and members of the public walk near the report of shots, the Metro- operation as if the incident
tery city that has been hit entrance of Oxford Circus subway station in the west of London politan Police force said was terrorism, including the
by four violent attacks this after it was reopened Friday Nov. 24, 2017. British police flooded officers “have not located deployment of armed offi-
year. London’s busy Oxford Circus area Friday after receiving multiple any trace of any suspects, cers.”
The area, full of big-name reports of “shots fired.” They have not located any casualties. evidence of shots fired or Kensington Palace officials
chain shops and depart- (AP Photo/Alastair Grant) causalities.” said the security alert will
ment stores, was packed from Oxford Circus station and then a flood of people Oxford Circus subway sta- not keep Prince William
with shoppers browsing and took shelter in nearby came up the stairs,” said tion reopened soon after- and his pregnant wife Kate
Black Friday sales. stores. Greg Owen, 37. ward. from attending a Royal Va-
Amid reports of several “I was next to the Tube sta- Police said they were re- It is not yet clear what set riety Performance Friday
shots being fired, com- tion and everyone started sponding “as if the incident off the panic. evening at the nearby Lon-
muters and shoppers ran screaming and shouting is terrorist related,” send- British Transport Police said don Palladium.q