ISRAEL: Israeli soldiers and ambulance vehicles rush to the Taba crossing after a bus blast just over the border in Egypt kills at least four people

Record ID: 359535

  • Title: ISRAEL: Israeli soldiers and ambulance vehicles rush to the Taba crossing after a bus blast just over the border in Egypt kills at least four people
  • Date: 16th February 2014
  • Summary: TABA CROSSING, ISRAEL (FEBRUARY 16, 2014) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) ISRAELI SOLDIERS GATHERED NEAR TABA CROSSING AFTER A BLAST ON A TOURIST BUS IN THE SINAI PENINSULA MORE OF SOLDIERS WALKING TOWARDS THE CROSSING AMBULANCE CAR AND SOLDIERS AT CROSSING SIGN IN HEBREW, ENGLISH AND ARABIC READING "TABA BORDER TERMINAL" QUEUE OF AMBULANCE VEHICLES AMBULANCE VEHICLE DRIVING AW
  • Embargoed: 3rd March 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8YT4WQPMSUSADFHJE9ZR7GKCN
  • Story Text: Israeli soldiers and medical teams rushed to the Taba crossing after an explosion nearby on a tourist bus in Egypt's Sinai peninsula.
    Three Koreans and the Egyptian driver were killed in the blast on Sunday (February 16), Egypt's Interior Ministry said.
    The ministry said the bus was travelling from St. Catherine's Monastery, a popular tourist destination in the south Sinai, to nearby Israel when it was attacked.
    It did not state the cause of the blast. But two security sources said an explosive device planted either inside or near the bus was used.
    Al Qaeda-inspired Islamist militants based in the largely lawless Sinai have stepped up attacks on security forces since army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted elected President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July.
    If militants were behind Sunday's attack, that would mark a shift in strategy to targeting tourists and economic targets and not just Egyptian police and soldiers.
    State television showed a photograph of the bus. Its windows were blown out and the roof had been partially torn off. Plumes of black smoke billowed from the site of the explosion on a palm tree-lined boulevard.
    Egypt has been rocked by political turmoil and violence since the downfall of Mursi, Egypt's first democratically-elected president, in July, after mass protests against him.
    Since he was deposed, Islamist militants based in the largely desolate Sinai near Israel have stepped up attacks on security forces, killing hundreds.
    Mursi appeared in court on Sunday on charges of conspiring with foreign groups to commit terrorist acts in Egypt.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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