CAIRO: Police evacuated guests and staff from a Cairo hotel on Tuesday night after being told a bomb had been planted there, a security official said.
A bomb disposal squad and sniffer dogs were sent in to the Zoser Hotel, a few minutes drive from the Giza pyramids, the official said.
The search is ongoing. Police received information on Tuesday night that a bomb had been placed in the hotel, he said, without providing further details.
Police have been on heightened alert since a Feb. 22 bomb attack killed a French teenager in a Cairo bazaar popular with tourists. Three people were arrested following the attacks but have not been charged.
Five days later, an American man was knifed in the face in the same bazaar. Police arrested the attacker, who they said was insane and hated Westerners.
Last week, the US embassy urged its citizens to take precautions.
Egypt was struck by a spate of deadly bombings in Sinai resort towns that killed dozens between 2004 and 2006.
Tourism is a vital foreign currency earner for Egypt. Last year 13 million tourists visited the country, bringing in $11 billion in revenue. -AFP
