Cairo hit by deadly bomb blast

[HURAKAN]

Tourists hit by Cairo bomb blast

A bomb explosion in Cairo has killed at least one person and injured 17 others, mostly foreign tourists, police say.

The dead person was identified as a French tourist. An unconfirmed report from Reuters news agency said there were four dead, two of them foreigners.

The blast happened outside a cafe packed with French tourists in the historic Khan al-Khalili area.

The explosion was relatively small, most likely caused by a home-made explosive device, police believe.

'Devastating effect'

The device was thrown from a balcony onto a crowd of people sitting outside the cafe below, police say.

Initial reports suggested it had been thrown from a motorbike.

Those injured in the blast included 10 French nationals, four Germans and three Egyptians, police said.

The explosion happened near the Hussein mosque and a well-known bazaar.

This is a very crowded area with tiny streets, which is why even a small blast would appear to have had such a devastating effect, our correspondent says.

The area has now been sealed off as bomb disposal experts were sent in to defuse a second device which failed to explode.

Reports say a second explosion was heard shortly afterwards.

"I was praying and there was a big boom and people started panicking and rushing out of the mosque, then police came and sealed the main door, evacuating us out of the back," Mohammed Abdel Azim, who was inside the mosque, told the AP news agency.

No cars are allowed into the area but motorbikes can get around the barriers, our correspondent says.
EGYPT ATTACKS
# April 2006: Bombs at Dahab, on the Red Sea, kill at least 23
# April 2005 : Bombing at Khan al-Khalili kills three people, including Frenchman and American
# July 2005: At least 88 people die in bomb attacks in Sharm el-Sheikh, on the Red Sea
# March 2005: Hungarian couple stabbed while kissing near Khan al-Khalili
# Oct 2004: Bombs at Red Sea resorts of Taba and Nuweiba kill at least 34 people
# 1997: Gunmen fire on tourists in Cairo and in Luxor, killing 68

So far no-one has claimed responsibility for the blast.

The area was targeted in 2005, when three people - including an American and a French tourists - were killed in a blast.

Sunday's explosion would be of a huge concern to Egypt's security services, the BBC's Christian Fraser in Cairo says.

These are tense times for the Egyptian government, our correspondent says.

He adds that the government has been criticised for its stance over over a recent conflict in Gaza and has many enemies.

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