Egypt policemen shot dead in IS claimed attack

An earlier report by state-run news agency Ahram-online said three gunmen stormed the Bella Vista Hotel used by foreign tourists in Hurghada, and injured at least two foreigners.

Eypty’s Interior Ministry, which is in charge of police, said two men armed with knives had entered the restaurant at the front of the seaside, four-star Bella Vista Hotel and attacked the tourists.

Germany updated its travel advice after the hotel attack, advising tourists in Hurghada not to go on any day trips from the resort for now and recommending they stay vigilant.

The jihadist group’s Egyptian affiliate is waging an insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, and dealt a body blow to the country’s tourism industry by claiming to have downed a Russian airliner in October, killing all those on board.

Officials have also claimed to have killed an attacker wearing a suicide bomb vest and have seriously wounded a second armed terrorist with a knife.

The attacks are the latest attempts by ISIS-affiliated militants to drive away tourism, an important source of funding for Egypt’s economy, according to BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner.

One was discharged and the other two were in a stable condition with minor injuries.

Zazou told AFP that the two attackers were “not part of an organization”.

Security forces apprehended one person who was hiding behind the hotel the ministry said.

“I told him to lie still”, Jan-Eric Olovsson said, recalling how his son lay in a pool of blood.

Numerous government employees and security force members are killed, with strikes creeping nearer to the capital Cairo.

After the Russian plane tragedy, major tourist operators suspended packages to Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, while Russia halted all flights to and from Egypt and Britain suspended air links with Sharm el-Sheikh.

Egypt’s police stressed that no guns or explosives were found on the attackers.

“Most probably is to make propaganda that will affect the tourism in Egypt badly, and that was the main aim”.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Cairo attack in a statement posted on messaging service Telegram.

But a statement carried Friday by IS sympathizers on Twitter claimed there were dead and wounded among the tourists and security officers protecting the hotel.