Four dead as tour bus hit by roadside bomb

CAIRO: Three Vietnamese tourists and an Egyptian guide were killed and at least 10 others injured when a roadside bomb blast hit their tour bus less than 4km from Egypt’s Giza pyramids.

The bombing is the first deadly attack against tourists in Egypt for over a year and comes as the tourism sector, a vital source of revenue, recovers from a sharp drop in visitor numbers since the country’s 2011 uprising.

No immediate claim of responsibility was reported.

Islamist extremists, including militants linked to Islamic State, are active in Egypt and have targeted visitors before.

At least nine Vietnamese tourists were injured, as well as the Egyptian driver.

The tourists were heading to a sound and light show at the pyramids, which they had visited earlier in the day, said tourist Lan Le, 41, who was aboard the bus but unhurt.

“We were going to the sound and light show and then suddenly we heard a bomb. It was terrible, people screaming,” she said. “I don’t remember anything after.”

Egypt’s interior ministry said the bus was hit by an ex- plosion from an improvised device hidden near a wall.

About two hours later the vehicle could be seen behind a police cordon with one of its sides badly damaged and the windows blown out.

Dozens of police, military and firefighters were at the site, on a narrow sidestreet close to the ring road.

An investigator at the scene said the device had likely been planted near the wall.

The interior ministry confirmed the death of two of the tourists and the state prosecutor’s office later said a third had died. In total, 14 Vietnam- ese tourists had been travelling on the bus, it said.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly told local TV from Al Haram hospital that the guide died from his injuries.

“The bus deviated from the route secured by the security forces,” he told reporters. “We have been in contact with the embassy of Vietnam to contain the impact of the incident, and what is important now is to take care of the injured.”

The bus driver later told local media he had not deviated from the route.

Egypt’s army and police launched a major campaign against militant groups in February, targeting the Sinai Peninsula, southern areas and the border with Libya.

The government says fighting Islamist militants is a priority as it works to restore stability after the years of turmoil that followed the “Arab Spring” protests of 2011.

Those events and the bombing of a Russian airliner after it took off in 2015 caused tourist numbers to plunge.

The last deadly attack on tourists in Egypt was in July 2017, when two Germans were stabbed to death in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.