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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Cairo- Asharq Al-Awsat

Blast Injures Tourists on Bus Near Egypt's Giza Pyramids

A group of camels and horses stand idle in front of the great pyramids in Giza, Egypt. | REUTERS/ Mohamed Abd El Ghany/ File Photo

An explosion targeting a tourist bus injured at least 12 people near a new museum being built close to the Giza pyramids in Egypt on Sunday, two security sources said.

Most of those injured were foreign tourists, the sources said. One security source said they included South African nationals.

There were no reports of deaths. A witness, Mohamed el-Mandouh, told Reuters he heard a “very loud explosion” while sitting in traffic near the site of the blast.

Pictures posted on social media showed a bus with some of its windows blown out or shattered, and debris in the road next to a low wall with a hole in it.

In December, three Vietnamese tourists and an Egyptian guide were killed and at least 10 others injured when a roadside bomb hit their tour bus less than 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Giza pyramids.

Tourism is a pillar of Egypt's economy with hotel workers, tourist guides, taxi drivers and stallholders in the souks and bazaars depending on it for their living.

The industry has been recovering since a sharp drop in visitor numbers after the turmoil of the Arab Spring in 2011 and the bombing of a Russian passenger jet in 2015, when 224 people were killed.

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