Survivors and Egypt's top prosecutor are giving detailed accounts of yesterday's massacre at a mosque in northern Sinai as the Egyptian military hits back at Islamic extremist targets in the region.
They describe intense gunfire ringing out as the mosque was shaken by blasts, and children screaming as their parents were mowed down.
A stampede occurred as people rushed for an exit, while others tried desperately to force their way out of windows.
They say the attackers arrived in five SUVs, took positions across from the mosque's door and windows. Just as the imam was about to deliver his sermon from atop the pulpit, they opened fire and tossed grenades at the estimated 500 worshippers inside.
When the violence finally stopped, more than 300 people were dead, including 27 children, and 128 injured.
It was Egypt's deadliest attack by Islamic extremists in the country's modern history, a grim milestone in a long-running fight against an insurgency led by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group.
Egypt's chief prosecutor says in a statement that the attack on a Sinai mosque has killed 305 people, including 27 children.
In a statement Saturday, Nabil Sadeq says the attack a day earlier also left 128 people wounded.
Sadeq says it was carried out by 25 to 30 militants who arrived at the mosque in the small town of Bir al-Abd in five all-terrain vehicles.
He says the militants stationed themselves at the mosque's main door and 12 windows before opening fire on worshippers inside.
They also torched seven cars belonging to the worshippers that were parked outside.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, the deadliest by Islamic extremists in Egypt's modern history.
The mosque is frequented by Sufi Muslims, a mystic school of Islam that militants consider heretic.
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