Egypt mosque attack: Militants kill 235 in North Sinai

Militants killed more than 235 people at a mosque in Egypt’s North Sinai on Friday, detonating a bomb and gunning down worshippers in the deadliest attack in the country’s modern history, state media and witnesses said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but since 2013 Egyptian security forces have battled a stubborn Islamic State affiliate in the mainly desert region, and militants have killed hundreds of police and soldiers.

State media showed images of bloodied victims and bodies covered in blankets inside the Al Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, west of El Arish, the main city in North Sinai. Worshippers were finishing Friday prayers at the mosque when a bomb exploded, witnesses said. Around 40 gunmen set up positions outside the mosque with jeeps and opened fire from different directions as people tried to escape, witnesses said.

“They were shooting at people as they left the mosque,” said a local resident whose relatives were at the scene. “They were shooting at the ambulances too.”

The public prosecutors’ office said in a statement 235 people had been killed and 109 more wounded.

Striking at a mosque would be a change in tactics for the Sinai militants, who have usually attacked troops and police and Christian churches.
READ MORE

UK hate crimes surge on Brexit, terror attacks

The UK has registered a 29 per cent surge in hate crimes in the wake of Brexit and terrorist attacks in the country, according to new Home Office figures released today.

There were 80,393 offences in 2016-17, compared with 62,518 in 2015-16, the largest increase since the UK Home Office began recording figures in 2011-12.

The number of hate crime incidents recorded by British police forces reached a record monthly level of 6,000 incidents in June this year.

This peak was higher than the previous monthly peak of 5,500 in July 2016, seen in the aftermath of the referendum in favour of Briatain's exit or 'Brexit' from the European Union (EU).

"The increase over the last year is thought to reflect both a genuine rise in hate crime around the time of the EU referendum and following the Westminster Bridge terrorist attack (March 2017), as well as ongoing improvements in crime reporting by police," the Home Office report noted.

The crimes continued to rise after the Westminster Bridge attack on the Houses of Parliament when terror suspect Khalid Masood rammed a car into pedestrians and stabbed a policeman on duty at the Parliament gates, followed by the Manchester suicide bombing in May and terror attacks in London in June.

READ MORE

Tighten security on flights or face total electronics ban: US to airlines

The Homeland Security Department is demanding that airlines around the world step up security measures for international flights bound for the United States or face the possibility of a total electronics ban for planes.

Compliance with the new rules could lead to the lifting of a ban on laptops and other large electronics already in place for airlines flying to the United States from 10 airports in the Middle East and Africa. It could also stave off a much-discussed expansion of the ban to flights from Europe.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly announced the rollout of the new rules yesterday.

The changes will be phased in over time and include enhanced passenger vetting, explosives detection and efforts to root out insider threats to airlines.

"Security is my No. 1 concern," Kelly said during a speech at the Center for a New American Security. "Our enemies are adaptive and we have to adapt as well."

Kelly said the changes will be "seen and unseen" and will be phased in over the coming weeks and months.

He said airlines that don't comply or are slow to enforce the new standards could be forced to bar large electronics in both carry-on and checked luggage. They could also lose permission to fly into the US. He said he's confident that airlines will cooperate.

The current ban, with affects only foreign carriers flying to the US from 10 cities, allows passengers to travel with larger electronics packed in checked baggage.

The new rules will apply to roughly 180 foreign and U.S.-based airlines, flying from 280 cities in 105 countries, according to Homeland Security. About 2,000 international flights land in the United States daily.

Michael W McCormick, executive director and COO of the Global Business Travel Association, said yesterday that airports will have to deploy enhanced explosive trace detention technology within 21 days and within six months add additional screening, detection dogs and other enhanced security measures.
READ MORE