The attack occurred as the country’s tourism minister, Hisham Zazou, prepared to visit the victims of an attack at a hotel on the Red Sea.
Advertisement
A suspect was arrested and police were searching for the rest of the group, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. “I thought I would bleed to death”.
This is the second jihadi attack in Egypt in as many days.
Also on Thursday, unknown assailants blew up a main natural gas pipeline near Arish city of Egypt’s restive North Sinai province bordering the Palestinian Gaza Strip and Israel, a security source told Xinhua.
He appears to have been shot in both legs. One local report said a German man and a Danish women were stabbed, but the severity of their wounds remains unclear.
Shortly after the attack, Sammie Olovsson updated his Facebook profile, saying he was “lucky” to have deflected the knife when the attacker tried to stab him in the chest. “If someone wants to attempt really to create a awful incident, he would not be using a knife”.
A security official said about 40 Arab Israelis were inside waiting to board a bus when the attack occurred.
Egypt is fighting a wave of Islamist militancy against security forces, which started in the remote regions of the Sinai but is increasingly spreading to the capital and to Red Sea beach targets that were previously considered safe.
Most were tourists returning home from the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh.
The Islamic State affiliate has claimed it downed the aircraft with a bomb to avenge IS fighters and civilians killed in Russian airstrikes in Syria.
An Egyptian Security Information Center spokesperson said: “Approximately 15 unidentified individuals gathered at a side street in the area near the Three Pyramids Hotel”.
After the Russian plane tragedy, some major tourist operators suspended packages to Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada.
He also promised that the government would support the tourism industry, a cornerstone of Egypt’s faltering economy.
According to eyewitnesses, two of the three gunmen were killed by security forces. No one was reported hurt in the attack.
The latest attack happened on the day Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas in the mainly Muslim country.
Advertisement
No one was wounded in the attack, which was claimed by an Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
