Egypt: President gives military three months to bring stability in Sinai after mosque attack
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the troops were permitted to use ‘all brute force’ to defeat the Wilayat Sinai, an affiliate of the Islamic State in the region.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday gave the country’s military three months’ time to restore the security and stability at the Sinai peninsula after an attack on a mosque on November 24 left 305 people dead, AP reported.
It was the the worst militant attack in the country’s modern history.
The president asked the troops to use “all brute force” required to achieve the objective. Sisi gave the order to Chief of Staff General Mohammed Farid Hegazy during a televised meeting.
“You are responsible for restoring security and stability in Sinai, along with the ministry of the interior, within three months,” the president told the military chief. “All brute force will be used. All brute force,” he added.
While no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, authorities said that gunmen carrying a flag of the Islamic State group opened fire at devotees at the e al-Rawda mosque near Bir al-Abed after exploding a bomb, Reuters reported.
Security forces have been fighting the Wilayat Sinai, an affiliate of the terror group in the region, for the past three years. Hundreds of policemen and soldiers have been killed by the group till date.
Meanwhile, the Arab League – a regional organisation of Arab countries – said that it was planning to hold an emergency meeting on December 5 at Egypt’s request to discuss the attack, the MENA news agency reported.