Three held in bazaar bombing
2005-04-18 14:26
Cairo - Egypt is holding three suspects in custody over their suspected role in a blast a central Cairo bazaar that killed three foreigners, the official press agency said on Monday.
The three Egyptians, arrested by police in raids over the past few days, will be held for 15 days while the state prosecution investigates their possible links to the attack, the agency said.
They have been identified as Akram Fawzi, 35 - described as the mastermind of the operation - Reda Ahmed, 19, and Tareq Ali, 34.
"The prosecution office is undertaking its investigation of the three who are accused, among other things, of having joined a terrorist organization in contravention of the law and the constitution and of having helped the terrorist Hassan Raafat Ahmed Bashandi carry out the attack," it added.
Bashandi, 18, killed two French citizens, a US national and himself when he detonated an explosive charge in an alleyway of ancient Islamic Cairo near the popular Khan el-Khalili souk on April 7.
It was the first attack on foreign targets in Egyptian capital in more than seven years.
Egypt's ministry of interior described Fawzi as "the brain who masterminded and financed the attacks and provided his accomplices with compact discs explaining how to manufacture explosive devices".
The fate of another six men arrested by security services over their alleged participation in the bombing was not known.