Bomb blast kills one near Cairo's popular Egyptian Museum
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-30 23:08

CAIRO - An unidentified person has been killed in an explosion under a bridge behind the popular Egyptian Museum in central Cairo that also injured at least four foreigners, police said.

Two Israelis, an Italian, a Russian and four Egyptians were hurt in the blast, which occurred around 4:00 pm (1300 GMT) Saturday behind the popular Egyptian Museum in central Cairo on Saturday, police said.

A foreign ministry spokesman in Jerusalem, commenting on earlier reports, said "we cannot yet confirm whether any Israelis are among the wounded. Our consul (in Cairo) is checking the reports.

It was unclear whether the fatality was an innocent victim or a suicide bomber.

The body was covered by newspapers and appeared to be almost intact except for the head which was completely disfigured.

There were conflicting reports as to whether the bomb was thrown from a bridge or whether a bomber had jumped with it.

The site of the bombing was a crowded bus terminal, situated in General Abdul Munem Riyadh Square between the museum and the Ramses Hilton on the east bank of the Nile River.

Police initially said someone had thrown a bomb from the bridge, killing a tourist.

Echoing reports by eyewitnesses, they later said the bomber may have thrown himself off the bridge and died in the blast.

Al-Jazeera television reported that the bomb was a crude one, containing nails.

Fire trucks and ambulances rushed to the scene and a police cordon was thrown up around the site, where numerous curious onlookers had gathered.

Forensic experts and police dogs were sent to the scene to help with investigations.

This was the second attack on tourists in Egypt in less than a month.

On April 7, a bomb blast rocked a central Cairo bazaar popular with tourists, killing two French citizens, a US national and the bomber.

Egyptian authorities have arrested at least nine people in connection with the attack on the Khan al-Khalili market, located next door to the world-famous Al-Azhar University, a great seat of Muslim scholarship.

That bombing was the first against foreign targets in Cairo in more than seven years. Afterwards, authorities beefed up security around the country's main tourists attractions and embassies urged their citizens to keep a low profile.

A previously unknown group calling itself the Islamic Brigades of Pride in Egypt said it carried out the attack.

The attack was "to avenge our brothers, martyrs of injustice and detainees" and to prove to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who "speaks of sleeper cells, that there are also active mujahedeen working against him and his likes," a statement said.

Egypt is a hugely popular destination for tourists owing to its pharaonic monuments, Nile cruises and Red Sea coast which have been rocked by major attacks against foreign targets in recent years.

Last October, at least 34 people, including several Israeli tourists, were killed in triple bomb attacks on the Hilton hotel Taba and two nearby resorts in the Sinai peninsula. More than 10 were wounded.

The Egyptian economy is heavily dependent on tourism and has been severely hit by previous attacks.

In 1997, nine German holidaymakers and their Egyptian driver were killed when their bus was firebombed in front of the Egyptian Museum.

In November of the same year, 62 people, including 58 foreign holidaymakers, were killed in an attack in the southern city of Luxor that was claimed by Jammaa Islamiyya, the bloodiest attack on tourists in Egypt.

However, the group's leader, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, declared a truce in 1998.

Sheikh Omar was sentenced to life in prison in 1996 by a US court for his involvement in a bomb attack against New York's World Trade Center three years earlier that killed six people and injured 1,000.

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