Explosion kills South Korean tourists in Sinai

PanARMENIAN.Net - An explosion tore through a bus filled with South Korean sightseers in the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday, Feb 16, killing at least four people and raising fears that Islamic militants have renewed a bloody campaign to wreck Egypt's tourism industry, the Associated Press reports.

The bombing near the tip of the Red Sea's Gulf of Aqaba was the first attack against tourists in Sinai in nearly a decade.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But the blast bore the hallmarks of attacks blamed on the al Qaeda-linked militant groups that have been battling government forces in Sinai's restive north for years.

At least three South Korean tourists were killed and 12 seriously wounded, according to Egyptian security officials. The Egyptian bus driver was also among the dead, the officials said.

Egyptian security officials said they believe the blast was caused by either a car bomb or a roadside bomb that was detonated by remote control.

Rescue workers found the remains of four and perhaps five people, according to Khaled Abu Hashem, the head of ambulance services in southern Sinai.

In Seoul, the foreign ministry said in a text message that 31 passengers from a church in Jincheon were being led by a South Korean tour guide. Two of its citizens were killed and nine wounded, the ministry added.

The discrepancy in the death toll could not immediately be reconciled, the AP says.

Sunday's bombing was the first attack against tourists in Sinai's southern region since a spasm of bloodshed in 2004-06 that killed about 120 people. That included a bombing at a luxury hotel in Taba in 2004 that left 34 people dead, 11 of them Israelis.

The bus in Sunday's attack had set out on a journey from Cairo and was about to enter Israel from the border town of Taba, officials said. Security officials said it arrived at Taba from the ancient Greek Orthodox monastery of St. Catherine's in Sinai.