European tourists stabbed in Egypt in stable condition

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility on Friday for the Cairo shooting directed at Israeli tourists.

They are variously reported as two Swedes or two Austrians and a Swede.

An Interior Ministry statement says the two were shot on their way to work Saturday in the Giza district.

Security forces were quick to intervene, and killed one of the attackers, seriously wounding the other.

The Egyptian interior ministry again sought to reassure the public over the incident, claiming that security guards, rather than tourists, were the intended target and that at least one attacker was in custody. According to Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed, they “have suffered knife wounds but they are in stable condition”.

The insurgency has been centered at the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula but has frequently spilled over into the mainland since the ouster in 2013 of the Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. 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”.

A survivor of the Egyptian hotel terror attack has broken his silence about the moment a suspected ISIS militant slashed him in the neck four times with a knife. It said one of the attackers was a student from the Cairo suburb of Giza.

A security official said about 40 Arab Israelis were inside waiting to board a bus when the attack occurred. The country’s tourism industry is in a parlous state after the attacks, with many tourists canceling travel to the region.

It is not clear how many tourists were hurt.

Revenue from tourism is crucial for the Egyptian economy, but the sector has been hit hard by such attacks.

The attack prompted Russian Federation to suspend flights to and from Egypt, while Britain restricted flights to the Sharm el-Sheikh resort from where the doomed plane had departed.

The country’s tourism industry was dealt several blows in 2015. Officials said officers tightened security checks in the area and closed roads.

Local media report that police have sealed off the area and one foreign tourist has been taken to hospital.