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Attack on tourists in Egypt attributed to `martyrs'

Egyptian authorities swept through villages on the outskirts of Cairo on Sunday, detaining more than 200 people after attacks on Saturday that left seven people wounded and three attackers dead.

Yassin, who was a suspect in a deadly bombing on April 7 at Cairo's main bazaar, had been spotted by security officers and chased into a central tourist area Saturday afternoon. He then leaped from a bridge behind the popular Egyptian Museum and blew himself up, wounding three Egyptians, an Israeli couple, a Swedish man and an Italian woman.

Two hours later, two veiled women, later identified as Yassin and Khamis, attacked a bus packed with Israeli tourists near Cairo's Citadel, firing several shots at the bus but not hitting anyone. Yassin then shot and killed Khamis and herself,ending what was believed to be the first instance of a terrorist attack by a woman in Egypt.

Egyptian officials sought to allay fears that the violence was part of a new wave of terrorism aimed at the country's tourism industry. In the mid-1990s, a wave of attacks against tourists by militant Islamic groups resulted in a harsh crackdown throughout the country. In 1997, militants opened fire on tourists in Luxor, killing 58 foreigners and four Egyptians.

Unlike those attacks, officials said, the latest incidents were committed by a small militant cell of only eight people, seven of whom have either been captured or are dead.

Two suspects in the April 7 bombing, Asharaf Saeed Youssif and Gamal Ahmed Abdul Aal, were detained Saturday, and officers were closing in on Yassin before he fled and detonated his bomb.

Two militant groups, the Mujahedeen of Egypt and the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, claimed responsibility in the attacks on Saturday, but it was unclear whether the attackers had any links to the groups. Some analysts say the incident reflects a growing trend away from attacks by large and politically-oriented groups.

"Before, we had political organizations that had a military arm. Now we seem to have groups of just martyrs" without a clear agenda, said Abdel Monem Said, director of the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. "This is a new kind of terrorism by small groups, committed in a primitive way."

While the attacks may threaten Egypt's tourist season, they also might have a notable effect on the opposition's campaign to lift the country's state of emergency laws, Said said.

"There has been pressure to lift emergency laws, which were meant to fight terrorism, but now there is terrorism again," he said.
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