CAIRO: A Belgian tourist was hospitalized in a critical condition on Tuesday after he was attacked in Egypt, a hospital official said.
The unnamed 26-year-old was stabbed in the neck while visiting the southern area of Aswan, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
He was due to be transferred to a hospital in the capital Cairo when his condition stabilizes, the official said, adding that he had no further details.
The interior ministry said police had arrested the alleged attacker, Ahmed Tawfiq Mohamed, a 33-year-old man with a history of mental instability.
The man, who was caught fleeing from the scene, was said to be a teacher who had been fired from a school affiliated with Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, the leading seat of learning in the Sunni Muslim world, and had claimed to be a prophet.
Police declined to speculate on the attacker’s possible motive or give other details about his condition.
They said the victim was among a group of 10 foreign tourists visiting the city’s Nubian Museum when the attack took place.
