Bomb hits tourist bus near Egypt's Giza Pyramids, wounds 17
CAIRO
(AP) — A roadside bomb hit a tourist bus on Sunday near the Giza
Pyramids, wounding at least 17 people including tourists, Egyptian
officials said.
The
officials said the bus was travelling on a road close to the
under-construction Grand Egyptian Museum, which is located adjacent to
the Giza Pyramids but is not yet open to tourists.
The bus was carrying at least 25 people mostly from South Africa, officials added.
The
attack comes as Egypt's vital tourism industry is showing signs of
recovery after years in the doldrums because of the political turmoil
and violence that followed a 2011 uprising that toppled former leader
Hosni Mubarak.
The officials said security forces cordoned off the site of the explosion and the wounded were taken to a nearby hospital.
The explosion damaged a windshield of another car, they said. Footage circulated online shows shattered windows of the bus.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
Atif
Moftah, general supervisor of the Grand Egyptian Museum, said the
explosion did not cause any damage to the museum, in a statement issued
by the antiquities ministry.
No
group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. It is the
second to target foreign tourists near the famed pyramids in less than
six months. In December, a bus carrying 15 Vietnamese tourists was hit
by a roadside bomb, killing at least three of them.
Egypt
has battled Islamic militants for years in the Sinai Peninsula in an
insurgency that has occasionally spilled over to the mainland, hitting
minority Christians or tourists. The insurgency gained strength after
the 2013 military overthrow of the country's first freely elected
president, an Islamist whose brief rule sparked mass protests.
Source: https://in.news.yahoo.com/bomb-hits-tourist-bus-near-egypts-giza-pyramids-132531093.html
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