Knife attackers hit foreign tourists at luxury Egypt resort

Egyptian tourism minister Hicham Zazou says he will visit Hurghada on Saturday where gun men attacked tourists on Friday.

Two knife-wielding men have attacked a hotel in Egypt’s Red Sea resort city of Hurghada and injured three European tourists, only a day after two men attacked a hotel bus in the capital Cairo. The company’s head Peter Browall said guests were given the option of relocating after the attack.

Two unidentified assailants stormed into the Bella Vista Hotel and stabbed three foreign tourists, two Austrians and one Swede.

Egypt’s security forces have been battling insurgency in North Sinai, which has witnessed many violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak.

Security sources said the tourists were Israeli Arabs.

Describing the terrifying moment an attacker tried to kill him, Olovsson said he was able to dodge blows to the chest.

Although no terrorist group has formally claimed responsibility for the attack, according to eyewitnesses the terrorists were carrying the black Islamic State flag bearing white writing reproducing the Islamic creed, or Shahada, and shouting “Allah hu Akbbar”.

An Internet statement said it was in response to a call by the Islamic State group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to target Jews “everywhere”.

According to the BBC, authorities have gone to great lengths to secure Egypt’s Red Sea resorts ever since bombers attacked the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in 2005, which sits between the desert of the Sinai Peninsula and the Red Sea. Islamic State claimed responsibility for Thursday’s incident.

Egypt has yet to confirm that jihadists brought down the plane, although Russian Federation said explosive traces were found in the wreckage.

Egyptian officials hope that the tourism sector will pick up next year with double digit growth in the number of tourists and revenues.

The country’s tourism industry was dealt several blows in 2015.

In September, eight Mexicans were mistakenly killed by security forces in the vast Western Desert.

Friday’s attack was the second in as many days against Egypt hotels.

Austria is considering changing its travel advice regarding the country, in the wake of a series of attacks targeting tourists, with the biggest disaster including the apparent shooting down of a Russian passenger jet by ISIS-affiliated militants, with the loss of 224 lives.