Luxor4u

Reports of a bomb attack on a tourist bus near a museum close to the Pyramids in Egypt, 12 injured so far.

This is what 1 newspaper is saying:

Egypt bus blast: 14 injured as tourists targeted near pyramids.

At least 12 people have been injured after a tourists bus was hit by an explosion outside a museum near Cairo, Egypt.

The explosion is believed to have happened near the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, according to reports.

Two sources told Reuters that that most of the injuries were foreign tourists.

Pictures taken at the scene show one tourist covered in blood.

The location is home to the renowned Great Pyramid of Giza and attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.

In 2019, three Vietnamese tourists and an Egyptian guide were killed and 11 others injured when a bomb blast hit their bus on Friday less than 2.5 miles from Egypt's world famous Giza pyramids, authorities said.

The explosion took place on the Marioutiya Road in the pyramid district, one of the most famous streets in greater Cairo.

Another nail in the coffin, especially in a place where most tourists will want to visit.

What with this and the bomb that went off and killed some tourists a few weeks ago, plus the risks in the Persian Gulf and now Thomas Cook on the verge of collaspe it doesnt bode well for tourism in the area.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... fears.html

The third, eighth, ninth and last paragraphs hit the nail on the head.

Explosion hits tourist bus near Egyptian pyramids
By Declan Walsh
May 20, 2019

Cairo: An explosion apparently targeting a bus filled with tourists near the pyramids of Giza in Egypt wounded at least 14 people Sunday, according to security officials and the state-run news media.

The attack occurred close to a giant national museum that is under construction near the pyramids and that is scheduled to open next year.

It was the second attack on tourists in Giza in six months, and it suggested that armed militants opposed to President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi were seeking to undermine his authority by hitting tourists at a time when he is planning a gala opening for the long-awaited institution.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's attack. Previous violence against tourists has been claimed by the Islamic State group's Egyptian affiliate and by other armed Islamist factions opposed to el-Sissi.

Four people, including three Vietnamese tourists and an Egyptian guide, died in a bomb attack on a tourist bus in Cairo in December.

There were no initial reports of deaths from Sunday's blast. Photographs posted to social media showed some people walking away from a bus whose side windows had been blown out. A construction site could be seen in the background.

Ahram Online, a state-run news outlet, said that the bus had been carrying 25 tourists from South Africa and that most of the 14 wounded were from that country. The extent of their injuries was unclear.

The new Grand Egyptian Museum is a prestige project for el-Sissi, who cemented his hold on power in April with a referendum that allows him to stay in his position until 2030.

Construction has been underway at the $US1 billion museum since 2002. Officials say it is scheduled to open in 2020, and el-Sissi has already said he intends to invite dignitaries from across the globe for the opening ceremony.

In a statement, a senior museum official said Sunday's blast did not damage their museum or any of its artifacts.

The December attack targeting a tourist bus took place on another road about 5 km from the pyramids. Soon after, Egyptian officials said that they had killed 40 people in reprisal for the assault in what they described as a series of raids across the country.

Human rights groups later cast doubt on the official account of that operation, saying that some of those killed were already in the custody of the security forces and might have been victims of extrajudicial executions.

In a statement, a senior museum official said Sunday's blast did not damage their museum or any of its artifacts.
Oh that's OK then, just so long as nothing was damaged, the injured tourists don't matter then, typical response for Egypt.

Winged Isis wrote: Sun May 19, 2019 11:05 pmFour people, including three Vietnamese tourists and an Egyptian guide, died in a bomb attack on a tourist bus in Cairo in December.

Didn't they believe that the December bomb wasn't actually targeted at the tourist bus, which was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Egyptian security forces have killed 12 suspected fighters in Cairo, the interior ministry said on Monday, a day after an explosion blasted a tourist bus, wounding several people.

seems to be the same story after each bomb attack

DJKeefy wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 5:55 pm security forces have killed 12 suspected fighters in Cairo, a day after an explosion blasted a tourist bus

I am very impressed!

BENNU wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 6:50 pm

DJKeefy wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 5:55 pm security forces have killed 12 suspected fighters in Cairo, a day after an explosion blasted a tourist bus

I am very impressed!

And by coincidence, the prison population dropped by 12 that same day!!

My question is always, if the authorities knew about them and where they were, why didn't they do something before to prevent the attack? They obviously just target any they know about. Even the way-more efficient and sophisticated Yanks and European authorities cannot find terrorists that quickly. Just saying'.....

The UK Authorities prevent many attacks by breaking down the door to a house at 5 am and arresting many people of a certain ethnicity in that house.... The papers and news are full of it that day, and they give all the details of what they were going to do and how many lives were saved ! ..

Next day in the news it's another sensation, which helps wipe the memory of the previous days sensation..


what they dont report is the fact everyone was released without charge a few days later.....

Governments and media going hand in hand creating demons that will devour your soul..

Personally I woudl rather deal with the Mafia, but Government's do not like such blatent competition..

Bombings at Gaza.

Like all stories issued by the State (Mis)Information Service of Egypt they don’t add up.

For example:
“the bus was carrying 25 South African tourists from the airport to the pyramids area” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egyp ... SKCN1SP0E2

What airport. Surely not the military owned Sphinx which is about 25 ks NW of the Pyramids and receives few/no international flights so its unlikely to be that and anyway was heading in the general direction towards that airport. If they were coming from the Cairo international Airport they must have been in the bus for 2 hours after leaving the airport and when the bomb hit. Doesn’t make sense. Why would you go directly to the Pyramids from any/either airport and not to the hotel first.

At best I can make out that the bus was heading away from Giza heading west which raises questions on where is was going/coming from (most likely from the Cairo International or central hotels) or whether the tour guide had a brain. Maybe he was lost/taking the tourists to his cousin’s ‘artifacts’ shop.

This is a high security area with upper middle class/military housing compounds and major roads not to mention the museum and includes the Housing Officers (?) Mosque, another Housing Officers Mosque, Shooting Military Post Office (? adjacent to the normal post office), Device (?) Armed Services Sun Mall etc, are just to the south. There are no churches in this area making it almost certain it’s a military housing compound.

This is the second bombing in this area in 7 months and was ‘detonated remotely (at least this time) on the perimeter of the Grand Egyptian Museum, not far from the site of a roadside blast that hit another tourist bus in December (4 killed and again a roadside bomb).’ This bomb was a not small fragmentation bomb that requires little explosive and less skill except proximity/timing to target.

How do you set a bomb on/near a major road in view of traffic and pedestrians ‘the blast, which happened 50 meters from its outer fence (OF the museum) and more than 400 meters from the museum building, the Antiquities Ministry said in a statement.’

Photos of the bus show that the museum is closer to 200 meters away than 400. It occurred on the northern side of the museum complex on the main road and just south of a gated/premium hotel area. Maybe they were heading to their hotel in this area but most of these hotels are expensive and this tour group looked more 3 star.

The Army/Police are slow learners and haven’t worked out that roadside bombs are easy to make, place and explode and have a big publicity effect. This time the bomb was pretty trivial, thank god, but that doesn’t matter from a PR point of view.

Any idiot knows that these remote controlled bombs can be disrupted with electronic interference and a sensible government would get the relevant US IT firm to install the interference systems at the priority 50-100 locations. Whether the locals could do the on-going management of such systems I leave to you. It is also well established that vehicles can be fitted with such systems and it is my bet that all senior state vehicles in Egypt are so fitted.

This bombing was minor and only the bus windows were affected by the fragments but the bomb was insufficient to cause structural damage. The South Africans are indestructible people – I know.



In other photos droves of army are guarding the damaged bus with machine guns – for what purpose – and not very well, with journalists and sightseers, drivers in the other lanes doing pretty much what they wanted. In any event the army is too late. In these photos the traffic heading in the city direction is bumper to bumper so it’s a main road not an isolated desert location for an easy bomb secretion.

Whether in this mess of confusion anyone is doing a full forensic test I leave to you and your good judgment on the porcine standards of the Imperial Police, Prosecution and Intelligence forces.

This bombing might not be accidental. The bus/tour company was Dominant Travel of Egypt is located within spitting distance of the Ministry of Defense/Military Technical College/Ministry of Defense Languages (?)/Army Club Taala/Armed Forces College of Medicine/Armed Forces Medical Complex/Cut Price Army Shop/Gamal Nasser Mosque etc. Its head office is not in a business/tourist district and I can find no other tourist businesses within k’s of its office which raises a question who owns it. Its only other office is Hurghada, Kawther, Taksim el Matar Street, Building 48, Apartment No. 15, Second Floor which reads like a back door operation. They appear to be the same company as Inside Egypt, FM Tours and Travel and others barely large enough to get a web site up but big enough to hire an obscure apartment to work from.

At best they are an insubstantial company with unclear ownership - possibly not civilian

The lesson might be that larger tour groups have always been a target, whereas small groups or solo travellers generally haven’t. Crowds always attract bombers. The solution of armed guards all over the place is no solution and would just frighten tourists.

The resources committed to protecting tourists are immense but one thing is certain the 30-50,000 (some say 77,000) Tourist Police aren’t worth a brass razoo and never were. Nominally the Ministry of Tourism/Supreme Antiques are their bosses but like most management no one does their job. A trained and directed force of this size would be more than capable of handling 100 sites and their surrounds with 300 staff per site on 3 shifts per day – 100 per shift. Doing their jobs in pairs rather than larger groups would help and a training course would give you cover for firing half of them, hiring young people and lots of younger women. A 50% female Tourist Police force would be a huge improvement.

What useful role the Tourist Police fulfill is far from clear except as symbols of laziness, sleaziness, baksheesh, money-making and obesity.

An aside. A very odd news item 2 years ago stated that the Armed Forces were given responsibility for the Pyramids area by the President and that the army company Queen (obviously not a gay reference) was given a deal of the treasure. What this responsibility included wasn’t completely clear. Did it include just security or also all commercial powers over tourists and the associated abominable shops/touts. Probably it did. At least these subsequent two bombings prove that the Army can’t do its job. This story is also evidence that Tourism and Supreme Antiques have no power over this site, they didn’t even attend the meeting with the President about these new arrangements. https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/origin ... oject.html

The State MisInformation Service announced the new Army responsibilities 2 years ago but makes no mention now of their responsibility for not avoiding the two bombing attacks. If complete military control doesn't give protection then the military must be worse than my entirely negative view of them.

After the bombing 7 months ago the army shot 40 terrorists loosely connected to the bombing – 24 hours later. A miracle in timing, but no journalist could independently confirm this State MisInformation story. What’s the betting there will be similar alleged killings of terrorists in a day or so. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-30/ ... g/10673652

Lets wait for the next from State (Mis)Information and their wretched boot-licker chief executive Dina Rishwan – friend of Mubarak and ranting hater of the western press. Tourists should be aware that their support for Egypt is support for a Junta that hates our way of life and would change it if they could. They do like our money though.

OPDATE. They have done it, killed 12 in 6th of October and Al Shorouk districts. No press agency can confirm this story and there are no photos, no precise locations, no list of police/military injuries, no identification of the dead. As a result everyone feels well. An aside. A shootout in 2 urban areas killing 12 ‘terrorists’ some by standers must have injured or killed. Second, were all terrorists killed, weren’t some terrorists just injured and could be paraded for the media. I think that these military 'successes' exist in just the reserve filing cabinets of State Misinformation. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egyp ... SKCN1SQ0ZD

12 and 6 October are not poor or out of control locations-odd places to get in gun fights with terrorists.

Reuters thinks the timing of these alleged successes against terrorists is dubious and goes further and suggests there are widespread extra-judicial killings by the state – maybe ‘as required/on order’.