Tourist bus blown up in Egypt

[AMR67 10]

Apparently the Pyramids are sh*t anyway.

There's plenty of other, safer places in the world to spend your holiday money.

 

The Pyramids, despite being a spectacular engineering marvel, are quite disappointing once you get there. To mirror Geared - it is a bit of a s**t hole, and for all you out there who think the Pyramids are in the middle of the desert - think again!!

[emma royd 10]

Apparently the Pyramids are sh*t anyway.

 

 

Oh right. I'd always assumed they were made of stone, but that would explain why the place stinks so much.

[Lee_ 10]

I've just heard a report that a bus full of tourists has been blown up in Egypt.

I'm thinking that the Egyptians have managed to totally destroy their tourist industry. Who is going to buy all those little bottles full of sand now?

 

The infidels deserved to be blown up!

[blake 10]

I'd actively avoid all of Africa (including the northern med coast) and the Middle East for a while, and be cautious about southern Turkish resorts.

 

That still leaves plenty of mediterranean destinations, not to mention further afield long-haul.

 

like Bali?

[emma royd 10]

there are a very few parts of the world where foreign tourists are ACTIVELY targeted by terrorists. Yes, there are places where foreign tourists might inadvertently get caught in the crossfire as it were, in terrorist incidents but there is a difference between that and being actively targeted, as a group. And in Egypt that is not only what is happening now, but what has been happening for many years.

 

So this is a hoax then?

 

Egypt: Terrorists warn tourists to leave or face attack

 

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/egypt-terrorists-warn-tourists-to-leave-or-face-attack/452923-2.html

 

A militant Islamist group has warned tourists to leave Egypt and threatened to attack any who stay after February 20, raising the prospect of a new front in a fast-growing insurgency in the biggest Arab nation.

 

The Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group, which claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed two South Korean tourists and an Egyptian on Sunday, made the statement on an affiliated Twitter account.

 

---------- Post added 20-02-2014 at 12:10 ----------

 

indeed, only 2 weeks ago 7 IRA bombs were found in the UK, strangely no mention on here? thought the sf terrorism experts would've been interested

 

It is odd that you didn't mention these. But I suppose that you are only SFs excuse maker for the extremes of Islam.

 

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/02/deadly-car-bombs-hit-baghdad-20142188290860564.html

 

 

Wave of car bombs hit central Iraq

At least 26 people killed in car bomb explosions in Baghdad and other cities across the country.

 

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/02/deaths-blast-southern-beirut-20142198538467372.html

 

Iranian cultural office targeted in Lebanon

Suicide blasts in southern suburbs of Lebanese capital, Beirut, kill at least seven, says health minister.

Edited February 20, 2014 by emma royd

[jfish1936 10]

It was interesting that when I read the list of topics. this topic was immediately below " Denmark bans religious slaughter".

 

The Muslim Brotherhood are apparently happy with the religious slaughter of humans.

[L00b 441]

like Bali?

Yeah, cos that's the only long-haul destination beyond the Med

[blake 10]

So this is a hoax then?

 

Egypt: Terrorists warn tourists to leave or face attack

 

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/egypt-terrorists-warn-tourists-to-leave-or-face-attack/452923-2.html

 

 

It is odd that you didn't mention these. But I suppose that you are only SFs excuse maker for the extremes of Islam.

 

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/02/deadly-car-bombs-hit-baghdad-20142188290860564.html

 

 

Wave of car bombs hit central Iraq

At least 26 people killed in car bomb explosions in Baghdad and other cities across the country.

 

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/02/deaths-blast-southern-beirut-20142198538467372.html

 

Iranian cultural office targeted in Lebanon

Suicide blasts in southern suburbs of Lebanese capital, Beirut, kill at least seven, says health minister.

 

you obviously did not read my post properly and also you do not understand the very links you yourself posted. Those Iraq and Lebanon links are attacks that are not targeting tourists like the Egyptian bombs and other attacks, like the 1997 Luxor massacre, did.

 

deliberate targeting of foreign tourists is pretty rare, outside the Middle East and parts of Africa, and this is where Egypt really stands out. Bali was the big exception, although there have also been, in the quite distant past, kidnappings and bombings targeting tourists elsewhere in south east Asia.

[howsmicha 10]

Why not try France Belgium Holland Germany Denmark Poland Hungary Austria Italy check republic Luxemburg. Great capital cities great scenery and most people connected with the tourist industry speak English and are for the most part willing to put you right.

[blake 10]

why the fundies are attacking tourists in Egypt, and have done for a long time is not because they are 'indidels', or they don't like the way they dress, or the food they eat, and so on. It is because they know that tourism is a massive feature of the economy in Egypt and they want to hurt the economy of Egypt, because if they do, it will make it easier for them to take over the country. They know also of course that Egypt is the big prize in the Arab world. Possibly bigger even than Saudi.

[emma royd 10]

you obviously did not read my post properly and also you do not understand the very links you yourself posted. Those Iraq and Lebanon links are attacks that are not targeting tourists like the Egyptian bombs and other attacks, like the 1997 Luxor massacre, did.

 

deliberate targeting of foreign tourists is pretty rare, outside the Middle East and parts of Africa, and this is where Egypt really stands out. Bali was the big exception, although there have also been, in the quite distant past, kidnappings and bombings targeting tourists elsewhere in south east Asia.

 

You clearly have a difficulty in reading English as the links to Iraq and Lebanon were in response to another poster and not you. So perhaps if you address the first of my points you will have a better understanding as that was the one addressed to you.

 

---------- Post added 20-02-2014 at 20:08 ----------

 

Just to emphasise that this isn't a one off event. These attacks on tourists have been ongoing for more than 20 years.

 

In the last 10 years these are the terrorist attacks on tourists in Egypt alone.

 

2004

• October '04 --A group of terrorists bombed resorts in the Red Sea villages of Taba & Ras ****an, killing 34 persons, mostly Israeli visitors. More than 100 persons were wounded, some gravely. The carnage was reported worldwide.

2005

• April 7, '05 -- A fringe extremist group dubbing itself Islamic Brigades of Pride delivered a crude homemade bomb -- packed with nails -- on the back of a motorcycle, driven by a suicide bomber right into the heart of the historic shopping bazaar called Khan al-Khalili. The blast killed 2 tourists, a French woman & an American man, & wounded about 18 other people, some critically. The marketplace was strewn with debris & body parts. The motorcycle driver who delivered the bomb also was killed.

• April 30, '05 -- Two veiled women in their 20s opened fire on a tour bus in a historic district of of Cairo, wounding two passengers then killing themselves. Two hours earlier that same day, a man suspected of involvement in a Cairo tourist bombing April 7 (see above) -- whom authorities identified as the brother & fiance' of the women who attached this tour bus -- jumped wildly from a bridge overpass during a police chase & ignited a bomb he was packing, killing himself. These incidents occurred behind the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo, wounded seven persons in all, four of them foreign tourists. A group calling itself the Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for the dual attacks April 30, '05, saying they were in revenge for the thousands of arrests of suspected militants that followed the April 7, '05 bombings along the Red Sea. Abdullah Azzam was a Palestinian terrorist who worked alongside Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, & was killed there in 1989.

• July 22, '05 -- Islamic terrorists triggered nearly-simultaneous bombings at the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing at least 88 people & injuring an estimated 200 others. Police reported the three explosions were two suicide car bombs & one planted bag bomb. It was Egypt's deadliest bombing in several years. The bombings happened on Egypt's National Day, which recalls the 1952 bloodless revolution that brought army officers to power after ousting King Farouk. One suicide car bomb killed 17 Egyptian workers in a coffee shop at the city's Old Market, police said. The other suicide car bomber struck the Ghazala Garden Hotel, streaking through a security checkpoint & slamming into the hotel's reception area before exploding. The hotel lobby area collapsed, along with its roof. The Old Market area was a vast mess of broken glass & litter. The third bomb was an improvised device left in a bag; & it killed six tourists at a beachfront parking lot & shuttle stop about two miles from the hotel. The explosions happened about 1:15 a.m. Egypt time, or 6:15 p.m. Friday EDT, but the hotels & the market were crowded anyway with tourists partying, or seeking relief from their hot hotel rooms. The first car was packed with 660 pounds of explosives & slammed into the reception of the Ghazala Gardens in Sharm's Naama Bay, the main strip of hotels, police said. The second bomb weighed about 440 pounds & exploded in a nearby area called the Old Market, frequented mostly by Egyptians working in the town's resorts. A third bomb, believed hidden in a sack, detonated near a beachside walkway where tourists often stroll at night. Dr. Saeed Abdel Fattah, manager of the Sharm el-Sheik International Hospital, where the victims were taken, said those killed included two Britons, two Germans & an Italian, he added. Czech officials said one Czech tourist was also killed. There were conflicting claims of responsibility. Several hours after the attacks, a group citing ties to Al Qaeda issued a claim on an Islamic Web site. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, Al Qaeda, in Syria and Egypt, was one of two groups that also claimed responsibility for October bombings at the resorts of Taba and Ras ****an that killed 34. This same terror group also claimed responsibility for a Cairo bombing in April.

2008

• September 29, '08 -- Ten days of hellish uncertainty -- for victims & families alike -- ended today for 11 European tourists + eight Egyptians abducted in the Egyptian desert on Sept. 19, when government operatives swarmed over their captors, winning their freedom. All 19 hostages were freed unharmed in a bold rescue operation in which several of their terrorist kidnappers were killed in a fierce struggle with authorities, Egyptian officials said. The liberated hostages arrived in Cairo aboard an Egyptian military plane, some of them grinning, some holding bunches of flowers, to be greeted by Egyptian military and government officials and foreign diplomats. These 19 hostages were freed in what Egyptian media called a "rescue and recovery operation," although officials gave only sparse details about how commandos secured the release or how the hostage-takers were killed. Later conflicting news accounts stated some hostages hinted they were simply let go, without any firefight, just randomly by the terrorists who feared government troops closing in. The hostages' 10-day ordeal had deeply embarrassed Egypt which depends on foreign tourism for 6 percent of its gross domestic product. "They have all arrived safely. No ransom was paid from any of the hostage countries," Tourism Minister Zoheir Garrana assured international reporters. "We will coordinate with security agencies to make sure this doesn't happen again." Masked gunmen seized the five Germans, five Italians, one Romanian and eight Egyptians on Sept. 19 from a desert safari tour conducted near Egypt's southwestern borders with Sudan and Libya. The kidnappers then rushed their captives southward into harsh desert terrain in Sudan and demanded a multi-million-dollar ransom.

2009

• February 22, '09 -- A terrorist bomb killed a French teenager and wounded at least 20 other people in a crowded square near a popular tourist bazaar in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Feb. 22, 2009, officials said. The blast was the first fatal attack on tourists in Egypt since bombs killed at least 23 people at an Egyptian resort in the Sinai Peninsula in 2006. This latest deadly bomb -- aimed at foreign tourists -- exploded near the 14th-century Khan el-Khalili market in eastern Cairo, a souk where tourists shop for small gifts and relax at outdoor cafes. A similar blast in the same area murdered three tourists in 2005. The Health Ministry of Egypt said a 17-year-old French girl was killed and 13 French tourists, plus three Saudis and four Egyptians had been wounded. The German Foreign Ministry also reported one German national had been injured. Egyptian state new agency MENA quoted security officials as reporting that one bomb had exploded under a bench in a garden in the square, and that a second bomb had been defused by security forces. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but police sources confirmed two suspects had been taken into custody. Reuters International reported this in Feb. 2009: "the bombing is embarrassing for the government, which has tried hard to project an image of security and stability, but angered public opinion at home and across the Arab world by helping Israel to enforce a blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, and failing to condemn its recent onslaught on the Palestinian territory more forcefully."

2014

• Feb. 19, 2014 (Wed.) BBC & EuroNews dispatches:

The Islamist militant unit calling itself Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has warned tourists to leave Egypt “before it’s too late” and threatened to attack anyone who stays in the country after a deadline of February 20. The Sinai-Peninsula-based group, which assumed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed two South Korean tourists and an Egyptian bus driver on Feb. 16, made the statement on a Twitter account.

The attack against the bus, which was heading to Israel from St. Catherine’s Monastery, a popular tourist destination in the south Sinai, was the first assault on foreign tourists since President Mohamed Mursi was driven out of power last summer by the Egyptian military – which sparked an Islamist insurgency. Islamist militancy has escalated dramatically in Egypt this winter, including the largely lawless region adjoining Israel and the Gaza Strip, since the army deposed Islamist Mursi in July, following mass protests against his rule.

Since then the army has launched a wide-scale operation in Sinai targeting Islamist militants, and security forces launched a crackdown on Islamists and Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood which authorities labelled a terrorist organisation. The Brotherhood denies any links to violence. The attack marks a shift in strategy among Sinai’s militants to targeting “softer” tourist and economic targets. Egypt’s vital tourism industry has already been hit hard by three years of political turmoil and street protests.

Islamist terrorist commandos launch near-daily attacks on security forces in northern Sinai, while the south, with its many Red Sea resorts, had been seen as a relatively safe tourist destination, government officials said. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for several bombings, including an attempt to kill the interior minister in Cairo last year. The organization also said it was behind a missile attack on a military helicopter last month that killed five soldiers.

[Halibut 12]

What's your point Emma?