Report Says Egypt Suicide Attackers Fought with ISIL in Syria

Rasa - Egyptian authorities said the ISIL suicide bombers that targeted two cathedrals in the Egyptian city of Tanta and Alexandria on Sunday had fought in Syria prior to committing terrorist attack.

News ID: 428828

Date: 11 April 2017 - 21:43

RNA - The Egyptian Ministry of Defense said in a report, published in by local media, that the first suicide bomber, Abu Ishaq Al-Masri, was an Egyptian national that traveled to Turkey in late 2013 to fight alongside ISIL in Northern Syria.

The report added that Al-Masri would later return to the Sinai Peninsula in 2014.

The ministry also revealed that second suicide bomber, Abu Al-Bara’a Al-Masri, was also an Egyptian national that has been in Egypt since 2014 after fighting alongside one of the militant groups in Syria. the intelligence reports suggests he traveled to Syria via Lebanon.

At least 27 people were killed and 78 others injured in Sunday attack after a bomb went off inside St. George's Church in the Nile Delta city of Tanta.

A few hours later, the second terrorist rushed toward St. Mark's Cathedral in the coastal city of Alexandria, the historic seat of Christendom in Egypt, killing at least 17 people and wounding 41 others.

The ISIL terrorist group has claimed responsibility for both attacks and has warned that more are still to come. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi announced a three-month state of emergency following the attacks.

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