A hotel in Egypt’s Red Sea resort town of Hurghada was attacked by at least two men, injuring at least three two Austrians and one Swede.
In an official statement, Egypt’s Ministry of Interior stated that unidentified assailants managed to infiltrate and access Bella Vista Hotel near the downtown area of Hurghada, threatening hotel guests with weapons.
Egypt’s Ministry of Interior stated that security forces managed to repel the attack, killing one attacker who has been identified as Mohamed Hassan Mohamed, a 21-year-old student and resident of Giza. Another unidentified attacker was also injured in the attack during an arrest attempt.
Egypt’s police stressed that no guns or explosives were found on the attackers. The attackers were found to be carrying a ‘sound pistol’ and knives, said the official statement. This appears to corroborate earlier claims that two tourists were injured, suffering from stab wounds.
Earlier, Reuters reported that gunmen arrived from the sea to carry out the attack at Bella Vista Hotel near the downtown area of Hurghada. Egypt’s police have not clarified whether the assailants entered from the sea or not.
The motives of the attackers in the latest attack appears unclear, with some claiming that the men had aimed to kidnap tourists while others stating that the men had been attempting a robbery.
The incident comes a day after a tourist bus carrying Arab-Israelis (Palestinians) was attacked by a group of men with fireworks and birdshot. The attack, which left no injuries, was targeted at security forces, claimed Egypt’s Ministry of Interior.
While police will claim to have foiled the terror attack by ensuring no tourists were killed, the incident is likely to deal a stringent blow to Egypt’s already struggling tourism sector. Egypt’s tourism industry is still recovering from the crash of a Russian passenger plane in October 2015, which killed all 224 passengers on board and resulted in the cancellation of many flights and more travel warnings.
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