Tourists flock to Cairo's bazaars for cheap arts and crafts An explosion has ripped through a major shopping bazaar in an area of Cairo popular with tourists, killing two and injuring several more. The blast, close to Cairo's al-Azhar mosque, killed two, including one French national and injured eight other people, police said.
The explosion, at about 1700 (1500 GMT), may have been caused by a bomb thrown from a motorbike, police said.
The al-Azhar mosque is a major seat of Islamic learning in Cairo.
A number of busy shopping bazaars are crammed into the narrow streets around al-Azhar, in Cairo's ancient Muslim quarter.
Unrecognisable body
The blast went off on al-Moski Street, a narrow street of tourist shops and clothes sellers - often crammed with foreigners and Egyptian shoppers, carts and peddlers - near the main bazaar of Khan al-Khalili.
Rabab Rifaat, a woman shopping nearby, told the Associated Press news agency she heard a loud "boom", and saw a decapitated head flying through the air.
A Frenchman was reported to have died at hospital from his injuries, while a woman's unrecognisable body was also recovered from the scene, the Reuters news agency reported.
Islamic militants in Egypt have staged attacks on tourist attractions in the past.
In the most recent attack in October, 34 people died when militants bombed several hotels in the Sinai peninsula.
In 1997 the country's lucrative tourism industry was thrown into crisis when gunmen opened fire on foreigners in central Cairo and at a site near the southern Egyptian city of Luxor.
posted
Im so so so so sad and shocked and and and i just visited khan el khalili from 4 days ago and i was with some germans there to show them around, im so sad about the tourists which killed by the bomb or hurt.
god with them
and always when i invite people to come to cairo they say " no thanks we dont want to be kidnapped or ....! i dont know but now i understand cuz they r really reasons to be afraid of.
posted
It could happen anywhere...I seem to remember that there was some sort of an explosion in the USA not so long ago! I would say that Egypt was about as safe as anywhere else in the world now, or should I say, as unsafe! In fact downtown Cairo is probably one of the safest places in the world now.
Posts: 4576 | From: Cairo | Registered: Jun 2002
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Tourists flock to Cairo's bazaars for cheap arts and crafts An explosion has ripped through a major shopping bazaar in an area of Cairo popular with tourists, killing two and injuring several more. The blast, close to Cairo's al-Azhar mosque, killed two, including one French national and injured eight other people, police said.
The explosion, at about 1700 (1500 GMT), may have been caused by a bomb thrown from a motorbike, police said.
The al-Azhar mosque is a major seat of Islamic learning in Cairo.
A number of busy shopping bazaars are crammed into the narrow streets around al-Azhar, in Cairo's ancient Muslim quarter.
Unrecognisable body
The blast went off on al-Moski Street, a narrow street of tourist shops and clothes sellers - often crammed with foreigners and Egyptian shoppers, carts and peddlers - near the main bazaar of Khan al-Khalili.
Rabab Rifaat, a woman shopping nearby, told the Associated Press news agency she heard a loud "boom", and saw a decapitated head flying through the air.
A Frenchman was reported to have died at hospital from his injuries, while a woman's unrecognisable body was also recovered from the scene, the Reuters news agency reported.
Islamic militants in Egypt have staged attacks on tourist attractions in the past.
In the most recent attack in October, 34 people died when militants bombed several hotels in the Sinai peninsula.
In 1997 the country's lucrative tourism industry was thrown into crisis when gunmen opened fire on foreigners in central Cairo and at a site near the southern Egyptian city of Luxor.
A total of 68 people died in the two attacks.
my mum and brother were on the same road just 2 hours before.YIKES
posted
THATS REALLY SCARY,BUT IM STILL GOING TO EGYPT.I WILL DIE WHEN GOD IS READY FOR ME TO DIE.WETHER ITS CAR ACCIDENT CANCER OR BOMB.I AM SORRY TO HERE THAT HAPPEN.WAS IT DIRECTED TOWARD TOURISTS?VERY SCARY
Posts: 30 | From: dayton,ohio,u.s.a. | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
What I don't understand about this is why westerners specifically?
Yes westernesrs misbehave drastically, but I think that Gulf Arabs are the worst of the lot. Female prostitution would be one quarter of what it is now if Gulf Arabs were forbidden to enter the country.
Why aren't these Gulf Arabs being bombed/attacked? If it was a right-wing extremist attack why aren't they bombing brothels instead? Might just manage to blow up a Saudi Royal? Can anyone else see the oddity in this?
[This message has been edited by sonomod (edited 26 April 2005).]
Posts: 5744 | From: Minneapolis, Mn USA | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
My husband and I were in Al Azhar park. We came out of the park to go shopping about 5 minutes after the bomb went off. We have heard that the unrecognisable body is that of a young egyptian man who comes from Shubra al Kheima. The story goes that he and his brothers were angry with america for being in iraq and made a bomb because they wanted to kill americans.
Posts: 92 | From: Britain | Registered: Oct 2001
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A bomb explosion in the centre of the Egyptian capital Cairo has killed at least one man and injured several others, including foreigners. Police said a bomb was thrown from a bridge to the street below, killing an Arab man and injuring four Egyptians and four foreigners.
The blast happened near the Egyptian Museum, the country's main Pharaonic museum and a major tourist attraction.
Meanwhile, reports are coming in of a second explosion in the city.
Eyewitnesses at the scene of the first attack report seeing the remains of a body, covered with newspapers, beneath the bridge.
"I heard a very loud explosion after what looked like a man throwing a bomb down from the bridge," said Mohammed Hasan Mohammed, 45.
News agencies says the four foreigners injured were two Israelis, a Russian and an Italian. The extent of their wounds is unclear.
The area was quickly cordoned off by police carrying semi-automatic rifles, and a large crowd gathered.
Fear
The BBC's Paul Wood, in Cairo, says most people believe this was another attack targeting foreign tourists.
Earlier this month, a suicide bomber killed three foreign tourists - two French citizens and an American - in a Cairo bazaar.
Egypt is currently under emergency rule, with some 16,000 suspected militants in prison.
Our correspondent says the Egyptian authorities and Western governments fear this attack represents a new generation of Islamic militants.
If that is the case, he adds, it is going to mean a very difficult time for the Egyptian economy.
posted
It all sounds really fishy if you read all the news accounts that are going around: The man was being chased by the police under suspicion for the last explosion. Witnesses saw a bomb thrown over the bridge. Witnesses saw a man jumping off the bridge and a bomb in his briefcase accidentally exploded. The security services say after the event that it was a suicide bomb. His face was blown off but they found his ID and that of the Khan Khalili bomber in his pocket, who prosecutors said was working alone. The bomb exploded behind the museum, over the Tahrir bus station where you rarely see tourists, on one of the quietest days in town due to the long holiday weekend. Then there was a shooting done by two fully veiled women, one of whom someone has already decided was the wife of the so called suicide bomber. The two women were following a tourist bus in a car in the old part of town, stopped the car, fired three shots into the back of the bus and missed, then one of the women shot her friend, and tried to shoot herself. And the police just happened to be there and shot at the women and all that was left behind was blood and a glove, the type worn by veiled women!!! It sounds like a bad old 1950s movie!
Posts: 4576 | From: Cairo | Registered: Jun 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Ann: Two incidents so far, not three. The attack on the tourist bus is the second one.
a bit crazy but you know, i am staying just 2 buildings from the israeli embassy and for some reason i am not worried, but then again i am from usa where you get shot for looking at someone wrong or for the clothes you wear so to me there is no more danger in cairo than at home
Posts: 2410 | From: Indiana, USA | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
These news from April are just terrible and I am relieved that not more people became victims or got wounded because of some maniacs. Hopefully nothing else will happen.
I am looking forward to my own vacation in two months in Egypt.
[This message has been edited by Tigerlily (edited 01 May 2005).]
Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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There are so many plain clothes and tourist police around there now, it is probably one of the safest places to be. I saw them stopping people and searching their bags before they went in when I was there last week.
posted
exactly the safest place to visit is one that has just HAD a bomb, cynical but true
Posts: 2791 | From: www.flatsinluxor.co.uk, Luxor, Egypt | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
yeah, I guess the security would be higher in the places that were bombed. And I don't think they'd bomb the same place twice.
Posts: 537 | From: Cairo | Registered: Mar 2002
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i just visited khan el khalili from 4 days ago and i was with some germans there to show them around, im so sad about the tourists which killed by the bomb or hurt.
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