Egypt massacre: Shocking details revealed

The terrorists who killed 305 people at a mosque in Egypt on November 24 carried the flag of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) and wore masks.

The attacked mosque is called Al-Rawdah in Bir al-Abed, near El-Arish on the Sinai Peninsula. Photo: Reuters

The attack was carried out by about 30 gunmen who created a death zone around the shrine by blocking exits and setting fire to cars before opening fire on worshippers. The massacre lasted a total of 20 minutes.

The Egyptian prosecutor's office said on November 25 that the attackers, wearing masks and military-style uniforms, surrounded the windows and main door before detonating a bomb and firing automatic rifles at the victims.

"There were about 25-30 of them, carrying IS flags, stationed in positions in front of the temple door and 12 other windows with automatic rifles," the statement from the prosecutor's office explained.

Scene. Photo: Reuters

In the carefully planned attack, which has been called the deadliest massacre in Egypt's modern history, the killers targeted innocent civilians, shouting "Allahu Akbar" as the crowd trampled one another and tried to jump out of windows to escape. "Allahu Akbar" roughly translates to "God is great", which is a chant that many other IS terrorists have chanted in recent attacks around the world.

But as the victims fled – many of them Sufis, a mystical Muslim sect hated by Sunni jihadists – they fell into a pre-planned trap and were brutally massacred.

Twenty-seven children were among the dead. At least 128 others were injured, according to Egypt's state news agency. The attackers then fled the Al-Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, near El-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula, before being targeted by Egyptian military jets hours later.

A statement from Public Prosecutor General Nabil Sadeq said the attackers arrived at the mosque in five vehicles and spread out at the main door and 12 windows of the mosque before opening fire.

They also set fire to seven other cars outside the temple, which belonged to worshippers.

Several cars were set on fire outside the temple. Photo: Reuters

Abdullah Abdel-Nasser, 14, who attended the prayer service with his father on that fateful day, said that the shooting began as soon as the mosque's imam was preparing the service, and the worshippers panicked and scattered to find a place to hide.

One attacker then shouted for the children to leave the temple, so Abdel-Nasser said he ran away, although he was also wounded in the shoulder.

"I saw many people at the entrance, many dead. I didn't think anyone could survive," Abdel-Nasser said from a hospital in Ismailia, which received about 40 injured victims, including many children.

Meanwhile, a man named Mohammed Ali said he lost a total of 18 family members in the attack.

This temple belongs to a local clan called Jreer, so many people from this clan come to pray here.

According to Dan Tri