Sinai’s Al-Rawdah loses 22% of its male residents in Friday attack

CAIRO – 25 November 2017: The bloody terrorist attack that hit the main mosque in North Sinai’s Al-Rawdah Village on Friday took the lives of roughly 22 percent of its male residents. The village’s population is not more than 2,111 people, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics’ (CAPMAS) 2016 report.

At least 235 people were killed and 125 injured when unidentified militants attacked a crowded mosque during Friday prayers in the Sinai Peninsula, setting off explosives and spraying worshippers with gunfire.

According to eyewitnesses, the militants stormed the Al-Rawdah Mosque, west of Al-Arish, detonated an explosive device around the mosque, set fire to cars of the villagers, and then cut off the main road leading to the village.

One family in Al-Rawdah lost three of its members in the attack. A mother in that family said her husband and elder son were killed in the aggression and another son was injured.

“My family died! My son “Aked” has undergone a dangerous surgery to get out a bullet in his back,” the mother said.

One of the injured called Soliman Garir said “I was shocked by a number of masked militants who stormed the mosque after the start of Friday prayers by about five minutes.”

He continued, “I had bullets in my back and shoulder, and the militants stepped on me. My nephew was also injured in the attack.”

Al-Rawdah Village near Bi’r Al-Abd city in North Sinai, and is considered one of the strongholds of the Sufi Ahmadiyya Al-Jerrahi Muslim community. They have a Zawya (small mosque) beside the attacked Al-Rawdah Mosque, the village has no shrines.

Rawda village is located on the international road linking Al-Arish with Bi’r Al-Abd. The majority of its population works in producing salt and agriculture. The village harbored a large number of families who fled from Sheikh Zuweid city following several terrorist attacks that hit the area.