Egyptian authorities said Friday the bomber who attacked Cairo's main tourist bazaar was working alone, amid concerns the blast, which killed three people including French and US tourists, could mark a revival of Islamic militant attacks that devastated Egypt's economy in the 1990s.
Bloodstains remained Friday on a street of jewelry and souvenir shops a day after the explosion. Still, several busloads of tourists arrived at the bazaar Friday, and scores of tourists wondered freely in the area's maze of small alleys, shopping and sipping black tea, Turkish coffee or smoking a waterpipe in its cafes.
Security was heavy around the Khan al-Khalili bazaar Friday, with policemen searching bags and erecting barricades on roads leading to the area in the heart of medieval Cairo. Security in the capital as a whole, home to at least 15 million people, has been significantly stepped up, especially around Western embassies and neighborhoods with large foreign communities.
PHOTO: AFP
Eighteen people were wounded in the blast, including Egyptians, Americans and French. A US man in his 20s and a French woman were killed. Investigators were running DNA tests on the severely mutilated third body, which authorities say is likely that of the bomber.
A previously unknown group, al-Ezz Islamic Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on the Internet, saying it was a message to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that Islamic militancy still exists in the country.The authenticity of the claim could not be verified.
Egyptian officials sought to limit possible damage to Egypt's vital tourism industry, stressing that there was no evidence so far the bomber was part of a wider group.
"Initial evidence is that it was an individual act. The way in which the explosive was prepared was very primitive. Still, we will await the results of the investigation," Prime Minister Ahmed Nazief told reporters after visiting victims at hospital.
Tourism Minister Ahmed El Maghraby said it was unlikely that the blast was a prelude to a concerted terror campaign, adding: "So far, we have had no requests from tourists to leave early from Egypt."
Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the head of Al-Azhar, one of the oldest and most prominent Muslim scholarly institutions, said the bombing could "only be carried out by someone who lost his mind."
Tourism is Egypt's largest earner of foreign currency, and the country has rebuilt the industry after it was devastated in the 1990s by attacks on foreigners by Islamic militants seeking to overthrow Mubarak's regime.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia