Egypt strikes back

Egyptian police killed 40 alleged “terrorists” in a crackdown yesterday after a roadside bomb hit a tour bus claiming the lives of three Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian guide. The suspects were killed in separate raids in the Giza governorate, home to Egypt’s famed pyramids and the scene of Friday’s deadly bombing, and in the restive Sinai Peninsula, the interior ministry said. Two raids in the Giza governorate killed 30 “terrorists”, while the remaining 10 were killed in the North Sinai, the ministry said in a statement.

It said authorities acted after receiving information the suspects were preparing a spate of attacks against state and tourist institutions and churches. “Information was received by the national security that a group of terrorists were planning to carry out a series of aggressive attacks targeting state institutions, particularly economic ones, as well as tourism, armed forces, police and Christian places of worship,” the statement said.

Early on Friday evening, a roadside bomb hit a tour bus in the Al-Haram district near the Giza pyramids, killing the three Vietnamese holidaymakers and their Egyptian guide, officials said. A statement from the public prosecutor’s office said 11 other tourists from Vietnam and an Egyptian bus driver were wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, the first attack to target tourists since 2017. Saigon Tourist, the tour company that organised the trip, said the Vietnamese tourists were “on their way to a restaurant for dinner” when the bomb exploded.