WEBVTT 00:02.500 --> 00:05.333 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: A mosque in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula was the scene of mayhem and carnage today. 00:07.166 --> 00:10.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% At least 235 people were killed, and more than 100 injured, as militants attacked a 00:12.600 --> 00:17.066 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% crowded house of worship during Friday prayers in the town of Bir al-Abd. 00:18.933 --> 00:22.266 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% The attackers detonated explosives and shot worshipers as they tried to escape. 00:24.066 --> 00:26.466 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Egypt's government declared three days of mourning across the nation. 00:26.466 --> 00:30.633 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% President Trump condemned the attack, and spoke this afternoon with Egypt's President 00:30.633 --> 00:32.133 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. 00:32.133 --> 00:36.300 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% Earlier, Sisi declared that the attack will not go unpunished. 00:36.300 --> 00:41.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% For more, I spoke a short time ago with New York Times Cairo bureau chief Declan Walsh. 00:44.100 --> 00:45.966 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Declan Walsh, thank you for joining us. 00:45.966 --> 00:49.200 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% This seems to have been an unusually ruthless attack. 00:49.200 --> 00:51.766 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% They kept on shooting as the ambulances arrived? 00:51.766 --> 00:54.233 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% DECLAN WALSH, The New York Times: Absolutely. 00:54.233 --> 00:55.966 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% That's right. 00:55.966 --> 00:58.833 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% There were -- the team -- the gunmen arrived in several vehicles. 00:58.833 --> 01:00.666 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% They split up into teams. 01:00.666 --> 01:03.700 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Some of the gunmen went inside the mosque. 01:03.700 --> 01:08.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% They started shooting the worshipers immediately after a bomb had gone off. 01:08.200 --> 01:12.633 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% Other gunmen waited outside and shot people as they tried to flee. 01:12.633 --> 01:17.633 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: And it was unusual that, in the past, they have been going typically after 01:19.600 --> 01:20.600 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% Christians. 01:20.600 --> 01:22.033 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% This time, it was at a mosque. 01:22.033 --> 01:23.033 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% DECLAN WALSH: That's right. 01:23.033 --> 01:25.600 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% This is extremely unusual. 01:25.600 --> 01:29.600 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% This attack is extremely unusual, both by the size of the attack, the number of people 01:29.600 --> 01:31.100 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% who have been killed. 01:31.100 --> 01:35.433 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% This is the largest attack in modern Egyptian history. 01:35.433 --> 01:39.766 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And it's also, as you say, by dint of the target. 01:39.766 --> 01:44.733 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Over the last year, Islamic State have carried out a number of attacks on Christian, Coptic 01:44.733 --> 01:49.733 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% Christian churches here in Egypt, but they have never turned their guns on a Muslim mosque. 01:52.666 --> 01:57.666 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% Now, we do not yet have a claim of responsibility for this attack, but it's important to note 01:59.666 --> 02:04.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% that Islamic State, the local affiliate of Islamic State is the most significant, the 02:05.933 --> 02:09.533 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% most powerful group that is operating in that area, and they had previously made threats 02:10.300 --> 02:12.333 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% against Sufi Muslims. 02:12.333 --> 02:17.333 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% So these are Muslims who belong -- who have a particular practice which extremists find 02:18.266 --> 02:20.200 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% to be heretical. 02:20.200 --> 02:24.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And they have made threats against this group in Sinai in the past. 02:24.833 --> 02:29.000 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% They have killed about a year ago a senior Sunni cleric. 02:29.000 --> 02:33.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% They beheaded him, and they said that there would be more violence to come. 02:33.066 --> 02:35.566 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And now they appear to have made good on that threat. 02:35.566 --> 02:39.333 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Why isn't there more security in these places? 02:39.333 --> 02:42.333 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% DECLAN WALSH: That's an excellent question. 02:42.333 --> 02:47.333 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% The Egyptian state has been battling the Islamic State in Sinai now for the last three or four 02:47.833 --> 02:49.766 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% years. 02:49.766 --> 02:53.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It has poured huge resources into the fight in that part of the country. 02:53.000 --> 02:57.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And we, as the foreign press and even most of the Egyptian press, have relatively little 02:57.833 --> 03:02.666 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% visibility on what goes on over there because it's a closed area to foreigners and indeed 03:02.666 --> 03:04.800 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% to many Egyptians. 03:04.800 --> 03:09.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But we do know that there are ambushes against the Egyptian military and that the Egyptian 03:09.066 --> 03:11.466 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% military has responded with some force. 03:11.466 --> 03:16.466 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% So, this again is going to raise questions, particularly for President Sisi, as to why 03:18.366 --> 03:22.433 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% his military has been unable to push back the Islamic State, to stop them from carrying 03:23.600 --> 03:25.600 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% out attacks like this with such impunity. 03:25.600 --> 03:30.533 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It's worth recalling that earlier on today, it seems that these groups, these gunmen who 03:32.433 --> 03:36.866 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% possibly numbered in the dozens were able to carry out this attack with no hindrance. 03:38.833 --> 03:42.166 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% They even waited at the site of the attack while the first-responders and the ambulances 03:43.533 --> 03:46.533 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% turned up, and they opened fire on some of the ambulances. 03:46.533 --> 03:51.533 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: And, as you point out, President El-Sisi said he's going to do something about 03:52.933 --> 03:54.466 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% it. 03:54.466 --> 03:56.633 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% He made a statement today, this will not go unpunished. 03:56.633 --> 03:59.633 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% But, as you have point out, there have been these other attacks. 03:59.633 --> 04:03.433 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% Do people believe that he will do something about this? 04:03.433 --> 04:07.233 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% DECLAN WALSH: I think there's going to be a particular type of pressure on President 04:07.233 --> 04:11.766 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% Sisi because a mosque has been attacked this time. 04:11.766 --> 04:16.433 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% On the other hand, this is an attack that's taken place in Sinai. 04:16.433 --> 04:20.100 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% And often, the rest of Egypt is referred to here as mainland Egypt. 04:20.100 --> 04:23.133 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% That's the main cities like Cairo and Alexandria. 04:23.133 --> 04:26.233 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% That's where the attacks against Christians took place last year. 04:26.233 --> 04:30.666 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And they certainly did ramp up the pressure on President Sisi, not just from the Christian 04:30.666 --> 04:35.666 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% community, but I think from Egyptians across the board, who were worried at the sight of 04:37.700 --> 04:40.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% these Islamic State attacks coming into their capital and into other major cities. 04:42.733 --> 04:46.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Declan Walsh with The New York Times joining us from Cairo, thank you. 04:46.900 --> 04:47.466 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% DECLAN WALSH: Thank you.