Offering condolences to the people of Egypt after the horrific terrorist attack on worshippers at a mosque, President Donald Trump called his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Al Sisi and pledged American solidarity in the battle against barbaric terror groups.
“The international community cannot tolerate barbaric terrorist groups and must strengthen its efforts to defeat terrorism and extremism in all its forms,” the White House said after the phone call in which Trump renewed his strong condemnation of the attack and reiterated that the United States will continue to stand with Egypt in this battle.
“There can be no tolerance for barbaric groups that claim to act in the name of a faith but attack houses of worship and murder the innocent and defenseless while at prayer,” the White House said in a separate statement, adding: “We must collectively discredit the extremist ideology that forms the basis of their existence.”
Terming it a “horrible and cowardly terrorist attack on innocent and defenseless worshipers”, Trump in his immediate reaction on Twitter said: “The world cannot tolerate terrorism, we must defeat them militarily and discredit the extremist ideology that forms the basis of their existence!”
“We have to get TOUGHER AND SMARTER than ever before, and we will,” he tweeted.
The UN Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack in the strongest terms. Calling it a “heinous and cowardly” attack, the Council urged all nations to cooperate actively with Egypt. It underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of these “reprehensible acts of terrorism” to justice.
“The Secretary General extends his deepest condolences to the families of the victims and to the government and people of Egypt and wishes a swift recovery to those who have been injured,” said a UN statement.