JUDY WOODRUFF: A mosque
in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula
was the scene of mayhem
and carnage today.
At least 235 people were
killed, and more than 100
injured, as militants attacked a
crowded house of worship
during Friday prayers in
the town of Bir al-Abd.
The attackers detonated
explosives and shot worshipers
as they tried to escape.
Egypt's government
declared three days of
mourning across the nation.
President Trump condemned
the attack, and spoke this
afternoon with Egypt's President
Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
Earlier, Sisi declared that the
attack will not go unpunished.
For more, I spoke a short time
ago with New York Times Cairo
bureau chief Declan Walsh.
Declan Walsh, thank
you for joining us.
This seems to have been an
unusually ruthless attack.
They kept on shooting as
the ambulances arrived?
DECLAN WALSH, The New
York Times: Absolutely.
That's right.
There were -- the team
-- the gunmen arrived
in several vehicles.
They split up into teams.
Some of the gunmen
went inside the mosque.
They started shooting the
worshipers immediately
after a bomb had gone off.
Other gunmen waited
outside and shot people
as they tried to flee.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And it was
unusual that, in the past, they
have been going typically after
Christians.
This time, it was at a mosque.
DECLAN WALSH: That's right.
This is extremely unusual.
This attack is extremely
unusual, both by the size of
the attack, the number of people
who have been killed.
This is the largest attack
in modern Egyptian history.
And it's also, as you say,
by dint of the target.
Over the last year, Islamic
State have carried out a number
of attacks on Christian, Coptic
Christian churches here
in Egypt, but they have
never turned their guns
on a Muslim mosque.
Now, we do not yet have
a claim of responsibility
for this attack, but
it's important to note
that Islamic State, the local
affiliate of Islamic State
is the most significant, the
most powerful group that is
operating in that area, and
they had previously made threats
against Sufi Muslims.
So these are Muslims who
belong -- who have a particular
practice which extremists find
to be heretical.
And they have made
threats against this group
in Sinai in the past.
They have killed about a year
ago a senior Sunni cleric.
They beheaded him, and
they said that there would
be more violence to come.
And now they appear to have
made good on that threat.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Why isn't there
more security in these places?
DECLAN WALSH: That's
an excellent question.
The Egyptian state has
been battling the Islamic
State in Sinai now for
the last three or four
years.
It has poured huge resources
into the fight in that
part of the country.
And we, as the foreign press
and even most of the Egyptian
press, have relatively little
visibility on what goes on over
there because it's a closed
area to foreigners and indeed
to many Egyptians.
But we do know that there are
ambushes against the Egyptian
military and that the Egyptian
military has responded
with some force.
So, this again is going to
raise questions, particularly
for President Sisi, as to why
his military has been unable
to push back the Islamic State,
to stop them from carrying
out attacks like this
with such impunity.
It's worth recalling that
earlier on today, it seems that
these groups, these gunmen who
possibly numbered in the dozens
were able to carry out this
attack with no hindrance.
They even waited at the
site of the attack while
the first-responders
and the ambulances
turned up, and they opened
fire on some of the ambulances.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, as you point
out, President El-Sisi said
he's going to do something about
it.
He made a statement today,
this will not go unpunished.
But, as you have point
out, there have been
these other attacks.
Do people believe that he
will do something about this?
DECLAN WALSH: I think there's
going to be a particular
type of pressure on President
Sisi because a mosque has
been attacked this time.
On the other hand, this
is an attack that's
taken place in Sinai.
And often, the rest of
Egypt is referred to
here as mainland Egypt.
That's the main cities
like Cairo and Alexandria.
That's where the attacks against
Christians took place last year.
And they certainly did ramp up
the pressure on President Sisi,
not just from the Christian
community, but I think from
Egyptians across the board, who
were worried at the sight of
these Islamic State attacks
coming into their capital
and into other major cities.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Declan Walsh
with The New York Times joining
us from Cairo, thank you.
DECLAN WALSH: Thank you.