Ban suspects that followers of an ultra-extremist IS faction known as “Hazimiyoun” played a role or were behind the mosque attack. Tore Hamming, a researcher at the European University Institute focusing on jihadis and ideological differences within IS, said the mosque butchery was not necessarily connected to the Hazimiyoun faction. No IS fighters “would consider Sufis true Muslims.” He believed the attack came from a “great need (among IS) for large symbolic attacks.”Even before the attack, Egyptian newspapers reported the emergence of the Hazimiyoun faction in Egypt. The Hazimiyoun faction rejects the “ignorance” excuse. He said the mosque attack was “certainly the work of one of IS factions.

Source: National Post December 02, 2017 10:18 UTC