Gunmen open fire at Egyptian hotel, wounding foreign tourists

Security forces shot the attackers, killing one and wounding another.

The identity of the assailants was not immediately clear but Egypt has been roiled by mainly jihadist violence since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

On Thursday, a group of 15 men attacked a tourist hotel in Giza’s Ahram district on Thursday, causing no causalities, for which the Egyptian affiliate of Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility.

European tourists were wounded in a knife attack at a popular Red Sea resort one day after Israelis were targetted in Cairo.

Travel experts warned the suspected Islamic State attack would further damage the country’s tourist industry.

Two Austrians and a Swede who were stabbed in an attack on a hotel in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Hurghada were only lightly wounded and in stable condition on Saturday, an Egyptian hospital official said.

Assailants attempted to storm a hotel in the Egyptian coastal city of Hurghada, injuring a number of tourists, according to state-run news agency al-Ahram.

Egypt’s tourism minister Hisham Zazou last night vowed to beef up security measures to safeguard tourists.

There are also discrepancies in the reporting on just who was injured during the attack. “At that point, I’m saying to my father I think I will bleed to death right now”. The apparent bombing of a Russian passenger plane over Sinai a year ago, claimed by IS, led to widespread flight cancellations, dealing a major blow to the industry which is one of the country’s main earners. The Egyptian authorities said the attack was “a criminal offense” and not a terrorist attack.

The account was in line with statements from the Egyptian Interior Ministry, which reportedly recorded the attack as a criminal offence, rather than terror attack, and said the men carried only knives and a “pellet gun”.

No one was hurt as birdshot and flares were fired outside the hotel where the tourists were staying.

An Egyptian Security Information Center spokesperson said: “Approximately 15 unidentified individuals gathered at a side street in the area near the Three Pyramids Hotel”.

Earlier in October, ISIL claimed responsibility for bringing down a Russian Metrojet airliner that crashed shortly after take-off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport.