Around 1,500 Brits are estimated to be in Hurghada, one of the most popular Red Sea resorts for United Kingdom tourists after Sharm el-Sheikh.
Advertisement
The attack came a day after a group of youth in Cairo threw fireworks and rubber bullets at a tourist bus and police guarding a hotel near the Giza pyramids.
The so-called Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind the attack.
The ministry said two men armed with knives had entered the outdoor restaurant at the front of the seaside, four-star Bella Vista Hotel and attacked the tourists. According to the Egyptian government, three foreigners were injured in the attack – one from Sweden and two from Austria – and they were rushed to the hospital.
Unconfirmed witness reports claimed the men were bearing an Isis flag as they approached from the beach in Hurghada, reportedly armed with knives, a “gun” and explosives belt, and there was speculation they were attempting to kidnap tourists.
The victims – identified as Austrians Renata and Wilhelm Weisslein, both 72, and Swede Sammie Olovsson, 27 – suffered shallow wounds, a spokesman said.
Security sources had previously said one from Denmark, one from Germany and two tourists were injured.
Zazou told AFP the two attackers were “not part of an organisation”. “At that point, I’m saying to my father I think I will bleed to death right now”, Olovsson said. Egypt’s tourism minister was expected today to visit the victims of an attack at a Red Sea resort hotel by knife-wielding assailants, the latest blow to the country’s beleaguered tourism industry.
With that information, it’s to no surprise that the Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State that is situated in a nearby Sinai peninsula, directly across the Red Sea from where Friday’s hotel attack took place, are now focusing on threatening Egyptian resort towns like Hurghada.
Police shot one perpetrator dead and seriously wounded the other.
Gunmen have killed two Egyptian police personnel in the city of Giza, officials said quoting the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility of the attack.
Security sources said the tourists were Israeli Arabs, and that there were no casualties.
Egyptian officials hope that the tourism sector will pick up next year with double digit growth in the number of tourists and revenues.
Advertisement
But ever since bombers attacked the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in 2005 the authorities have gone to great lengths to secure the country’s Red Sea resorts.
