alexz
04-07-2005, 04:06 PM
CAIRO (*******) - A man on a motorbike threw a bomb in the central historic area of Cairo on Thursday, killing up to four people, including an American and a French citizen, Egyptian police sources and government officials said.
Ahmed Adel, a senior official at the Egyptian Health Ministry, said the explosion in the area popular with tourists wounded 18 others. The Interior Ministry said earlier the French citizen was a woman.
The wounded -- four French, three Americans, an Italian, a Turk and nine Egyptians -- were taken to hospital where the French woman died, it said in a statement.
In Washington, U.S. officials confirmed three Americans were injured but were unable to say if a U.S. citizen had died.
"There was a big explosion and everybody started running away," said witness Rabab Rifaat.
Another witness, who asked not to be named, said he went to scene and saw at least five foreign nationals badly wounded and a large amount of smoke.
Police sources said earlier a man on a motorcycle threw the bomb at about 5 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) in the busy tourist area of the Egyptian capital.
Neither ministry statement made any mention of what caused the blast.
The bomb went off on one of Cairo's streets lined with shops catering for tourists. Police sealed off the road which was covered with shattered glass and shops were closed.
There was no immediate indication of what the motive of the attack was.
The bombing was the latest in a series of attacks on tourists in Egypt, which thousands of foreign nationals visit each year to see its ancient treasures and pyramids.
An Egyptian man stabbed and wounded two Hungarian tourists in central Cairo last month in what police said was revenge for Western policies toward Iraqis and Palestinians.
A series of bombings on the Taba Hilton hotel on Egypt's border with Israel and two beaches further south killed 34 people last October.
Ahmed Adel, a senior official at the Egyptian Health Ministry, said the explosion in the area popular with tourists wounded 18 others. The Interior Ministry said earlier the French citizen was a woman.
The wounded -- four French, three Americans, an Italian, a Turk and nine Egyptians -- were taken to hospital where the French woman died, it said in a statement.
In Washington, U.S. officials confirmed three Americans were injured but were unable to say if a U.S. citizen had died.
"There was a big explosion and everybody started running away," said witness Rabab Rifaat.
Another witness, who asked not to be named, said he went to scene and saw at least five foreign nationals badly wounded and a large amount of smoke.
Police sources said earlier a man on a motorcycle threw the bomb at about 5 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) in the busy tourist area of the Egyptian capital.
Neither ministry statement made any mention of what caused the blast.
The bomb went off on one of Cairo's streets lined with shops catering for tourists. Police sealed off the road which was covered with shattered glass and shops were closed.
There was no immediate indication of what the motive of the attack was.
The bombing was the latest in a series of attacks on tourists in Egypt, which thousands of foreign nationals visit each year to see its ancient treasures and pyramids.
An Egyptian man stabbed and wounded two Hungarian tourists in central Cairo last month in what police said was revenge for Western policies toward Iraqis and Palestinians.
A series of bombings on the Taba Hilton hotel on Egypt's border with Israel and two beaches further south killed 34 people last October.