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Daily Record
Daily Record
World
Samy Magdy

Egypt bomb blast injures tourists on board a bus near Giza Pyramids

A roadside bomb has hit a tourist bus near the Giza Pyramids, Egyptian officials have said.

The blast on Sunday wounded at least 17 people, mostly South African tourists, officials confirmed.

The attack took place near a new museum being built close to the Giza pyramids in Egypt, two security sources said.

A third security source said the bus was carrying 25 South African tourists from the airport to the pyramids area, and that four Egyptians in a nearby car were also injured by broken glass.

A damaged bus is seen at the site of a blast near a new museum (REUTERS)

One witness said he heard a "very loud explosion" while sitting in traffic near the site of the blast.

The explosion happened a few hundred metres away from the Grand Egyptian Museum, not far from the site of a roadside blast that hit another tourist bus in December.

An injured woman next to the scene of the blast that targeted a tourist bus (Reuters)

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The museum is due to open next year as the new home for some of the country's top antiquities on a site adjoining the world-famous Giza pyramids. It is part of an effort to boost tourism, a key source of foreign revenue for Egypt.

The sector has been recovering after tourist numbers dropped in the wake of a 2011 uprising and the 2015 bombing of a Russian passenger jet.

Egypt has battled Islamic militants for years in the Sinai Peninsula in an insurgency that has occasionally spilled over to the mainland, hitting minority Christians or tourists.

Stunned tourists leave their bus after the bomb attack near the Giza pyramids (PHOTOGRAPHS OBTAINED BY REUTERS)

The attack comes as Egypt's vital tourism industry is showing signs of recovery after years in the doldrums because of the political turmoil and violence that followed a 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Hosni Mubarak.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

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 2.5 miles from the Giza pyramids.

The bus damaged by the bomb near the new museum being built close to the Giza pyramids (REUTERS)
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