Twin attacks rock Cairo
2005-04-30 18:17
Cairo - At least two militants were killed and a number of foreigners wounded in twin attacks on popular Cairo tourist spots on Saturday, including a wanted man who blew himself up and one veiled women shot dead after attacking a tourist bus.
The attacks threatened to hit Egypt's tourist-dependent economy hard, after authorities described a bombing in the capital earlier this month as "an isolated incident".
The first blast happened behind the central Egyptian Museum when a suspect wanted for the "isolated" bombing threw himself from a bridge and detonated a bomb as he was being pursued by police, an interior ministry statement said.
An Israeli couple, an Italian woman and a Swedish man were lightly wounded in the blast at 3:35pm (1235 GMT) which killed the suspect, it said.
A foreign ministry spokesperson in Jerusalem said: "We cannot yet confirm whether any Israelis are among the wounded. Our consul is checking the reports."
Women in hijabs
In the second attack, police said they shot dead one woman and seriously wounded and captured another after they opened fire on a tourist bus near the Citadel tourist attraction to the east.
The interior ministry said the unidentified women were veiled and wearing full-length black hijabs.
Earlier police reports said two people had died in what was thought to be an explosion near the bus.
The interior ministry identified the man who threw himself from the 6 October bridge as Ihab Yusri Yassin, saying they also found identity papers belonging to Hassan Raafat Ahmed Bashandi on the body.
Authorities say Bashandi carried out a bombing in Cairo's bustling Khan al-Khalili bazaar district on April 7 in which he, two French citizens and a US national died.
The ministry said that two other suspects allegedly involved in the April 7 bombing had been captured earlier, naming the men as Asharaf Saeed Youssif and Gamal Ahmed Abdul Aal.
Authorities published the names and pictures of the three wanted men earlier this week following interrogation of other suspects.
The ministry said Saeed Youssif and Abdul Aal "had embraced the idea of jihad" (holy war) and escaped after the Khan al-Khalili bombing.
It added that Abdul Aal, a school teacher, had left a note for his family, saying he had gone for jihad and that investigations had revealed that the two were planning more attacks.
Yassin's body was covered by newspapers and appeared to be almost intact except for the head which was completely disfigured.
The site of the bombing was a crowded bus terminal, situated in General Abdul Munem Riyadh Square between the museum and the Ramses Hilton on the east bank of the Nile River.
Al-Jazeera television reported that the blast was caused by a crude nail bomb.
Fire trucks and ambulances rushed to the scene and a police cordon was thrown up around the site, where numerous curious onlookers had gathered.
Forensic experts and police dogs were sent to the scene to help with investigations.
- AFP