EGYPT: Four people die after explosion in tourist area near Cairo

Record ID: 359201

  • Title: EGYPT: Four people die after explosion in tourist area near Cairo
  • Date: 23rd February 2009
  • Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (FEBRUARY 22, 2009) (REUTERS) ***NIGHTSHOTS*** VARIOUS SITE OF BLAST AND EMERGENCY SERVICES HOTEL SIGN VARIOUS SITE OF BLAST AND EMERGENCY SERVICES OFFICIALS IN CORDONED OFF AREA EXAMINING POSSIBLE AREA OF SLAIN PERSON EMERGENCY SERVICES SIREN CORDONED OFF AREA SURROUNDING POSSIBLE AREA OF SLAIN PERSON
  • Embargoed: 10th March 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Reuters ID: LVACXRCJBH1W960ST0P164DB3662
  • Story Text: Four people were killed, including two foreigners, in a blast near a popular tourist area in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Sunday, security and police sources said.
    The explosion happened near the historic Khan el-Khalili market in eastern Cairo, where tourists shop for trinkets and sit at outdoor coffee shops.
    Eleven people were wounded, six of them seriously, the sources said.
    The nationalities of the foreigners were not immediately clear.
    Citing witness reports, the sources said at least one device exploded after being thrown from a motorcycle. Bomb disposal experts were trying to defuse a second device which was also thrown.
    It was not clear who was behind the attack or if the tourists had been deliberately targeted, although Islamic militants have hit the country's tourist industry in recent decades through bomb and shooting attacks.
    Masked gunmen kidnapped 19 hostages in September 2008, including 11 tourists on a safari in a remote desert area of Egypt near the Sudanese and Libyan border. It was the first kidnapping of its kind in Egypt in living memory.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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