(AFP PHOTO / STR)
At least three Korean tourists and an Egyptian driver were killed in a bus bombing on Sunday afternoon in Sinai, according to the Ministry of Interior. The bomb, which also left 14 injured by the ministry’s count, went off in the Egyptian coastal town of Taba, near the country’s shared border with Israel.
Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou, who said he would travel to Taba in the aftermath of the incident, told CBC satellite channel that his ministry was working with the South Korean Embassy in Cairo concerning arrangements for the deceased and injured.
The Ministry of Interior said that the bus was attacked when it was waiting before crossing into Israel at the border crossing.
State-owned MENA said that the tourists were on their way back from visiting Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai.
While attacks in the tumultuous peninsula have dramatically risen in recent months, such violence had until Sunday largely targeted security forces, while the Red Sea area, where tourists normally reside, had remained relatively calm.
Armed groups in Sinai have mostly attacked gas pipelines that run through the region and security outposts.
Last month a military helicopter in Sinai was shot down. The assault was claimed by militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, which has also claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in Sinai, Ismailia and Cairo.
