A roadside bomb hit a tourist bus on Friday in an area near the Giza Pyramids, killing two Vietnamese tourists and wounding 12 others, Egypt’s Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The bus was travelling in the Marioutiyah area near the pyramids when the crude roadside bomb, concealed by a wall, went off, the ministry said. The wounded included 10 Vietnamese tourists. The other two wounded were the Egyptian bus driver and the guide.
Only two of the 14 people on the bus escaped unharmed.
Egypt has battled Islamist militants for years in the Sinai Peninsula in an insurgency that has occasionally spilled over to the mainland, hitting minority Christians or tourists. However, this is the first attack to target foreign tourists in almost two years.
Egypt’s vital tourism industry is showing signs of recovery after years in the doldrums because of the political turmoil and violence that followed a 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Hosni Mubarak.
It will likely prompt authorities to further tighten security around churches and associated facilities ahead of the New Year’s Eve celebrations and next month’s Christmas celebrations of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the dominant denomination among Egypt’s estimated 10 million Christians.
Over the past two years, militant attacks against Christians in Egypt — usually targeting churches or buses carrying pilgrims to remote desert monasteries — have killed over 100 people.
A member of the Egyptian security forces stands guard at the scene of a blast in Giza, Egypt, on December Friday. (Mohamed el-Shahed/AFP/Getty Images)
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