Egypt’s grim catalogue of tourist attacks
A short chronology of some of the major incidents of violence against Egypt’s lucrative tourist industry.
30 September 1992: Spokesman for Gama al-Islamiya warns tourists not to enter province of Qana, which includes some of Egypt’s most famous pharaonic temples and tombs.
21 October 1992: Muslim insurgents ambush tourist bus, killing British woman and wounding two British men. Woman is first foreigner to die in insurgency-related violence.
12 November 1992: Five German tourists and two Egyptians wounded when armed men ambush bus in town of Qana.
7 January 1993: Man throws bomb near tourist bus in Cairo in first attack in capital. No injuries.
26 February 1993: Bomb in crowded coffee shop in central Cairo kills a Turk, a Swede and an Egyptian and wounds 20 people of various nationalities.
8 June 1993: Bomb explodes near tour bus on Pyramids Road in Cairo, killing two Egyptians and wounding 22 people, including five British tourists.
27 October 1993: A man described as a mentally disturbed musician shoots dead two American businessmen, a French jurist and an Italian at a luxury Cairo hotel.
27 December 1993: Gun and bomb attack on tourist bus in old Cairo seriously wound eight Austrians and eight Egyptians. Next day newspapers say Gama al-Islamiya claimed responsibility.
4 March 1994: Armed men fire at Nile cruiser in southern Egypt, wounding a German woman tourist, who died after being flown back to Germany.
26 August 1994: Armed men kill Spanish boy in an attack on a tourist bus in southern Egypt. Gama claims responsibility.
27 September 1994: Assailants shoot and kill one German tourist and wound another in an attack in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada. Two Egyptians also killed and another German man died of his wounds after returning to Germany.
23 October 1994: Suspected Muslim insurgents kill a British tourist and wound three after a minibus attack.
9 November 1995: The Gama tells foreign tourists to leave the country immediately.
18 April 1996: Muslim insurgents shoot dead 18 Greek tourists they mistook for Israelis near the Pyramids.
18 September 1997: Armed men kill nine German tourists and their Egyptian bus driver in a shooting and firebomb attack outside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Six Germans also wounded.
17 November 1997: Attackers with guns and swords kill 58 tourists and four Egyptians at an ancient temple near the southern tourist town of Luxor. Six assailants and three police also die in the violence.
Since then, Gama has been observing a ceasefire.
8 February 2004: An Egyptian man who said he was enraged at events in the Middle East stabs two tourists, an Australian and a Norwegian, in Cairo’s historic district.
7 October 2004: A series of bombings on the Taba Hilton hotel on Egypt’s border with Israel, and two beaches further south, kills 34 people.
29 March 2005: An Egyptian man stabs and wounds two Hungarian tourists in Cairo in revenge for Western policies towards Iraqis and Palestinians.
7 April 2005: Up to four people are killed and 18 wounded after a pedestrian throws a bomb in Cairo’s popular mediaeval district.
30 April 2005: One person dies and eight are wounded in a bomb blast near the Egyptian Museum shortly before police kill one woman and seriously wound another after they open fire on a tourist bus.