CAIRO: Egyptian police killed 40 “terrorists” in separate raids early Saturday, a day after a roadside bomb near the Giza pyramids killed three Vietnamese tourists and their guide, the interior ministry said.
Two raids in the Giza governorate killed 30 “terrorists”, while the remaining 10 were killed in the restive North Sinai, the ministry said in a statement.
It said authorities acted after receiving information that the suspects were preparing a series of attacks against state institutions, tourist sites and churches.
“Information was received by the national security that a group of terrorists were planning to carry out a series of aggressive attacks targeting state institutions, particularly economic ones, as well as tourism, armed forces, police and Christian places of worship,” the statement said.
In Giza itself, two raids were carried out, the first killing 14 suspects and the second 16 suspects, while the rest were in the North Sinai capital El-Arish.
Police also found a large number of weapons and ammunition as well as bomb-making materials, the statement said.
Early on Friday evening, a roadside bomb blast hit a tourist bus travelling near the Giza pyramids killing three Vietnamese holidaymakers and their Egyptian tour guide.
A statement by the public prosecutor’s office said 11 other tourists from Vietnam and an Egyptian bus driver were wounded when the bomb exploded.
The improvised explosive device was placed near a wall along Mariyutiya Street in Al-Haram district near the Giza pyramids plateau, it said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The bus was carrying a total of 15 Vietnamese tourists, according to Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Tran Thanh Cong, the Vietnamese Ambassador to Egypt, visited the scene of the attack and Al Haram Hospital, where the victims were being treated, the ministry said.
Egypt has battled Islamic militants for years in the Sinai Peninsula in an insurgency that has occasionally spilled over to the mainland, hitting minority Christians or tourists. However, this is the first attack to target foreign tourists in almost two years.
The attack takes place as Egypt’s vital tourism industry is showing signs of recovery after years in the doldrums because of the political turmoil and violence that followed the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Hosni Mubarak.
Security around churches and associated facilities is expected to be tightened further ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations and next month’s Christmas celebrations of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the dominant denomination among Egypt’s estimated 10 million Christians.
Over the past two years, militant attacks against Christians in Egypt — usually targeting churches or buses carrying pilgrims to remote desert monasteries — have killed over 100 people.