11/22/22, 12:44 PM History of terrorism against tourists in Egypt, 1992 to present.

Home / Dive Resorts / Live-Aboards / Snorkeling / Who We Are / Book a Trip

© Copyright
Reuters Limited & U.S. Dive Travel Network.

CHRONOLOGY OF ATTACKS on TOURIST TARGETS IN EGYPT:

a DETAILED HISTORY from 1992 to the PRESENT.

(Derived from copyrighted reports by REUTERS,

the internationally respected British News Agency.
Reprinted with specific permission from the NYC Bureau.)

Following are notable incidents in the failed Moslem militant campaign to permanently cripple Egypt's
lucrative tourist industry. History shows that the vast majority of tourists who visit Egypt for any reason, at
any time of year, & to any locale, find their experience to be magical, exotic & a great adventure. Terrorism
against live-aboard vessels on the Red Sea has been virtually non-existent, knowledgeable sources indicate.

We include this file not to meddle in your private vacation plans, nor to instill needless anxiety, but because
U.S. Dive Travel strongly feels you need to study the issue of personal safety in Egypt before making an
informed decision about whether to travel to this beautiful but troubled region. And the only way to be
informed is to separate fact from rumor, history from fearful speculation.

Your safety & personal security are far more important to this company than any other aspect of your
booking. Please read this important text completely & feel free to call your agent at U.S. Dive Travel if you
have any questions. Thank you for taking the time. God bless you & your trip! Be careful & chances are
excellent you will have one of the most exciting & visually gratifying scuba vacations possible on planet
Earth.

1992
Sept. 30 - A spokesman for the main militant movement, the Gama'a al-Islamiya (Islamic Group),
warned tourists not to enter the province of Qena, which includes some of Egypt's most famous
Pharaonic temples & tombs.

Oct. 1 -- Gama'a gunmen fired at a Nile cruiser carrying 140 Germans near Assiut, injuring three
Egyptian crew.

Oct. 21 -- Militants ambushed a tourist bus, killing a British woman & injuring two British men. The
woman was the first foreigner to die in militant-related violence in Egypt.

Nov. 12 -- Five German tourists & two Egyptians were wounded when gunmen ambushed a bus in the
town of Qena.

1993
https://usdivetravel.com/T-EgyptTerrorism.html 1/8
11/22/22, 12:44 PM History of terrorism against tourists in Egypt, 1992 to present.

Jan. 7 - A man threw a bomb near a tourist bus in Cairo, the first attack ever in the nation's capital. No
injuries were reported.

Feb. 26 - A bomb was detonated in a crowded coffee shop in central Cairo, killing a Turk, a Swede & an
Egyptian & injuring 20 people of various nationalities.

March 16 - A bomb damaged five tourist buses outside the Egyptian Museum in central Cairo.

June 8 - A bomb exploded near a tour bus on Pyramids Road in Cairo, killing two Egyptians & injuring
22 people including five British tourists.

Aug 16 - A lone gunman fired shots at tourist boat in southern Egypt, but nobody is hurt in the brief
random attack.

Sept 15 & 18 -- Moslem militants fired at two Nile cruise boats, the first near the village of al-Qusiya,
the second on a boat carrying 22 French tourists near Abu Tig, in Upper Egypt. Both attacks missed &
nobody was hurt at all. No word on whether the attackers were nabbed by police.

Oct. 27 -- A man described as a mentally disturbed musician shot dead two American businessmen &
an eminent French jurist as they ate dinner at a luxury Cairo hotel. An Italian injured in the attack later
died, three other people were wounded. The government said the attacker was mentally retarded &
was not a Gama'a member, but some sources described him as a militant sympathiser.

Dec. 27 - A gun & bomb attack on a tourist bus in old Cairo left eight Austrians & eight Egyptians
seriously wounded. Next day newspapers said Gama'a claimed responsibility, explaining that it
launched the attack to avenge executions of its members.

1994
Feb. 14 -- Gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Romanians in the southern province of Assiut. No one was
hurt. The Gama'a claimed responsibility for the attack.

Feb. 17 -- Gunmen opened fire at a Nile cruiser in Assiut, but no one hurt. Gama'a again claimed
responsibility.

Feb. 19 -- Gunmen attacked a Egyptian train in Assiut, injuring one Pole & several Taiwanese tourists.
Gama'a claimed responsibility.

Feb. 23 - An explosion hits Egyptian train in Assiut. Six tourists were hurt: two Australians, two
Germans & two New Zealanders. Gama'a claimed responsibility.

March 4 -- Gunmen fired at a Nile cruiser in southern Egypt, wounding a German woman tourist, who
died after being flown back to Germany.

March 7 -- Gunmen attacked a train in southern Egypt, 11 Egyptians wounded. Gama'a claimed
responsibility.

March 13 -- Gunmen fired at a Nile cruiser in southern Egypt, but no one was hurt.

Aug. 26 - Gunmen killed a Spanish boy in an attack on a tourist bus in southern Egypt, also wounding
his father. Gama'a claimed responsibility.

https://usdivetravel.com/T-EgyptTerrorism.html 2/8
11/22/22, 12:44 PM History of terrorism against tourists in Egypt, 1992 to present.

Sept. 27 -- Gunmen shot dead one German tourist & wounded another in a random attack in the Red
Sea resort of Hurghada. Two Egyptians also were killed & another German man died of his injuries
after returning to Germany. Since this time Egyptian police have set a super-tight security cordon along
the single road into Hurghada & there has not been any major incidents since this date, sources
indicate.

Oct. 23 -- Suspected Moslem militants killed a British tourist & wounded three others, along with their
Egyptian driver, raking with machine-gun fire the minibus carrying them to a pharaonic temple in
southern Egypt.

Nov. 6 -- Gunmen opened fire at a Nile cruiser carrying 30 tourists in southern Egypt, but they do not
cause any damage or casualties.

Dec. 26 -- Unidentified gunmen opened fire near a passenger train in southern Egypt, causing no
injuries.

1995
Jan. 12 -- Suspected Moslem militants wounded two Argentine tourists & four Egyptians when they
opened fire on a train in southern Egypt.

Nov. 8 -- Gunmen thought to be Moslem militants attacked a passenger train in southern Egypt &
wounded 10 people.

Nov. 9 -- Two European tourists -- a Dutch man & a French woman -- are shot when terrrists sprayed a
passenger train with bullets in southern Egypt. The Gama'a told foreign tourists to leave the country
immediately & said it was responsible for the attack on the passenger train in southern Egypt on
November 8.

Nov. 19 - Suspected Moslem militants opened fire on a tourist train heading north from Aswan to
Cairo, killing one of the train workers & injuring several people.

Nov. 29 - Gunmen fired 11 rounds at a passenger train taking tourists to southern Egypt overnight, but
no one was hurt.

1996
Jan. 26 - An elderly Egyptian was killed when suspected Moslem militants opened fire on a passenger
train that often carries tourists in southern Egypt.

April 18 -- Gunmen thought to be Moslem militants massacred 17 Greek tourists outside a hotel in
Cairo near the Pyramids. One Egyptian man was killed & 15 people were wounded.

1997
Sept. 18 -- Gunmen suspected to be Moslem militants killed six German tourists & three other people
outside the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square. Nine people were wounded.

November '97 -- Moslem terrorists armed with automatic weapons ambushed, shot & killed 62 tourists
at Luxor. All of the gunmen were shot dead by military police or apprehended immediately. The
Egyptian government denounced this act & quickly tightened security in & around major tourist

https://usdivetravel.com/T-EgyptTerrorism.html 3/8
11/22/22, 12:44 PM History of terrorism against tourists in Egypt, 1992 to present.

centers, news reports indicated in the weeks that followed. Then there followed years of relative peace
in Egypt, until ....

2004
October '04 -- After more than 7 years of uneventful tourism, with no noteworthy violent incidents
aimed at foreign tourists, a group of terrorists bombed resorts in the Red Sea villages of Taba & Ras
Shitan, killing 34 persons, mostly Israeli visitors. More than 100 persons were wounded, some gravely.
The carnage was reported worldwide.

2005
April 7, '05 -- A fringe extremist group dubbing itself Islamic Brigades of Pride delivered a crude
homemade bomb -- packed with nails -- on the back of a motorcycle, driven by a suicide bomber right
into the heart of the historic shopping bazaar called Khan al-Khalili. The blast killed 2 tourists, a French
woman & an American man, & wounded about 18 other people, some critically. The marketplace was
strewn with debris & body parts. The motorcycle driver who delivered the bomb also was killed.

April 30, '05 -- Two veiled women in their 20s opened fire on a tour bus in a historic district of of Cairo,
wounding two passengers then killing themselves. Two hours earlier that same day, a man suspected
of involvement in a Cairo tourist bombing April 7 (see above) -- whom authorities identified as the
brother & fiance' of the women who attached this tour bus -- jumped wildly from a bridge overpass
during a police chase & ignited a bomb he was packing, killing himself. These incidents occurred behind
the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo, wounded seven persons in all, four of them foreign tourists.
A group calling itself the Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for the dual attacks April 30,
'05, saying they were in revenge for the thousands of arrests of suspected militants that followed the
April 7, '05 bombings along the Red Sea. Abdullah Azzam was a Palestinian terrorist who worked
alongside Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, & was killed there in 1989.

July 22, '05 -- Islamic terrorists triggered nearly-simultaneous bombings at the Red Sea resort city of
Sharm el-Sheikh, killing at least 88 people & injuring an estimated 200 others. Police reported the
three explosions were two suicide car bombs & one planted bag bomb. It was Egypt's deadliest
bombing in several years. The bombings happened on Egypt's National Day, which recalls the 1952
bloodless revolution that brought army officers to power after ousting King Farouk. One suicide car
bomb killed 17 Egyptian workers in a coffee shop at the city's Old Market, police said. The other suicide
car bomber struck the Ghazala Garden Hotel, streaking through a security checkpoint & slamming into
the hotel's reception area before exploding. The hotel lobby area collapsed, along with its roof. The Old
Market area was a vast mess of broken glass & litter. The third bomb was an improvised device left in a
bag; & it killed six tourists at a beachfront parking lot & shuttle stop about two miles from the hotel.
The explosions happened about 1:15 a.m. Egypt time, or 6:15 p.m. Friday EDT, but the hotels & the
market were crowded anyway with tourists partying, or seeking relief from their hot hotel rooms. The
first car was packed with 660 pounds of explosives & slammed into the reception of the Ghazala
Gardens in Sharm's Naama Bay, the main strip of hotels, police said. The second bomb weighed about
440 pounds & exploded in a nearby area called the Old Market, frequented mostly by Egyptians
working in the town's resorts. A third bomb, believed hidden in a sack, detonated near a beachside
walkway where tourists often stroll at night. Dr. Saeed Abdel Fattah, manager of the Sharm el-Sheik
International Hospital, where the victims were taken, said those killed included two Britons, two
Germans & an Italian, he added. Czech officials said one Czech tourist was also killed. There were
conflicting claims of responsibility. Several hours after the attacks, a group citing ties to Al Qaeda
issued a claim on an Islamic Web site. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, Al Qaeda, in Syria and Egypt, was

https://usdivetravel.com/T-EgyptTerrorism.html 4/8
11/22/22, 12:44 PM History of terrorism against tourists in Egypt, 1992 to present.

one of two groups that also claimed responsibility for October bombings at the resorts of Taba and Ras
Shitan that killed 34. This same terror group also claimed responsibility for a Cairo bombing in April.

2008
September 29, '08 -- Ten days of hellish uncertainty -- for victims & families alike -- ended today for 11
European tourists + eight Egyptians abducted in the Egyptian desert on Sept. 19, when government
operatives swarmed over their captors, winning their freedom. All 19 hostages were freed unharmed
in a bold rescue operation in which several of their terrorist kidnappers were killed in a fierce struggle
with authorities, Egyptian officials said. The liberated hostages arrived in Cairo aboard an Egyptian
military plane, some of them grinning, some holding bunches of flowers, to be greeted by Egyptian
military and government officials and foreign diplomats. These 19 hostages were freed in what
Egyptian media called a "rescue and recovery operation," although officials gave only sparse details
about how commandos secured the release or how the hostage-takers were killed. Later conflicting
news accounts stated some hostages hinted they were simply let go, without any firefight, just
randomly by the terrorists who feared government troops closing in. The hostages' 10-day ordeal had
deeply embarrassed Egypt which depends on foreign tourism for 6 percent of its gross domestic
product. "They have all arrived safely. No ransom was paid from any of the hostage countries," Tourism
Minister Zoheir Garrana assured international reporters. "We will coordinate with security agencies to
make sure this doesn't happen again." Masked gunmen seized the five Germans, five Italians, one
Romanian and eight Egyptians on Sept. 19 from a desert safari tour conducted near Egypt's
southwestern borders with Sudan and Libya. The kidnappers then rushed their captives southward into
harsh desert terrain in Sudan and demanded a multi-million-dollar ransom.

2009
February 22, '09 -- A terrorist bomb killed a French teenager and wounded at least 20 other people in a
crowded square near a popular tourist bazaar in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Feb. 22, 2009, officials
said. The blast was the first fatal attack on tourists in Egypt since bombs killed at least 23 people at an
Egyptian resort in the Sinai Peninsula in 2006. This latest deadly bomb -- aimed at foreign tourists --
exploded near the 14th-century Khan el-Khalili market in eastern Cairo, a souk where tourists shop for
small gifts and relax at outdoor cafes. A similar blast in the same area murdered three tourists in 2005.
The Health Ministry of Egypt said a 17-year-old French girl was killed and 13 French tourists, plus three
Saudis and four Egyptians had been wounded. The German Foreign Ministry also reported one German
national had been injured. Egyptian state new agency MENA quoted security officials as reporting that
one bomb had exploded under a bench in a garden in the square, and that a second bomb had been
defused by security forces. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but police sources
confirmed two suspects had been taken into custody. Reuters International reported this in Feb. 2009:
"the bombing is embarrassing for the government, which has tried hard to project an image of security
and stability, but angered public opinion at home and across the Arab world by helping Israel to
enforce a blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, and failing to condemn its recent onslaught on the
Palestinian territory more forcefully."

2011
January & February, 2011 -- Starting about Jan. 25, 2011, street violence and rioting broke out all
across Egypt, especially in Cairo, Luxor, Alexandria & other major cities, where protestors against
military strongman Hosni Mubarak massed along the streets in the tens of thousands. On Jan. 25, at
least four people were killed at "Day of Wrath" anti-government protests across Egypt as
demonstrators vented their rage, complaining of poverty, unemployment and government repression.

https://usdivetravel.com/T-EgyptTerrorism.html 5/8
11/22/22, 12:44 PM History of terrorism against tourists in Egypt, 1992 to present.

Then on Jan. 27, security forces shot to death a Bedouin protester in the north of Egypt's Sinai region,
bringing the death toll to five on the third day of protests. Later, on Jan. 28, police fired rubber bullets
and tear gas as protesters hurled stones at them and yelled "Down, Down, Hosni Mubarak!" Police
blanketed Cairo and blocked social networking communications in an effort to strangle the protests.
Egyptian Internet servers were blocked across the country, throttling a key tool for reform-seeking
political activists. Hospital and government sources placed the death toll by Feb. 2 at more than 100,
with thousands injured. Cairo suffered widespread looting, fires, destroyed vehicles and days of total
shutdown of airports and public transport. Some independent foreign journalists placed the civilian
death toll higher than 300 by Feb. 2, 2011.

2012, 2013
During the last 2 years, month after month, the world's major news services have reported numerous
clashes between demonstrators & police in Cairo, then the contentious election & short rule of Muslim
Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi, who was deposed by the Egyptian military on July 3, 2014. That
coup sparked a series of violent uprisings in Cairo's Tahrir Square that led, on July 27, 2013 to soldiers
firing on protestors, killing nearly 100 people & injuring 1,500, according to the BBC.

On Aug. 14, 2013, angry protests swept across Cairo & several other large Egyptian cities. Military
snipers & heavily armed soldies opened fire on Morsi supporters, killing more than 525 people &
injuring more than 3,700. Reportedly dozens of police officers & soldiers were killed or injured by
protestors. Governments around the world, including the USA, immediately condemned the military
coup leaders, as Egypt began to spiral into bloody street fighting & urban anarchy.

2014
Feb. 19, 2014 (Wed.) BBC & EuroNews dispatches:

The Islamist militant unit calling itself Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has warned tourists to leave Egypt “before it’s
too late” and threatened to attack anyone who stays in the country after a deadline of February 20. The
Sinai-Peninsula-based group, which assumed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed two South
Korean tourists and an Egyptian bus driver on Feb. 16, made the statement on a Twitter account.

The attack against the bus, which was heading to Israel from St. Catherine’s Monastery, a popular tourist
destination in the south Sinai, was the first assault on foreign tourists since President Mohamed Mursi
was driven out of power last summer by the Egyptian military – which sparked an Islamist insurgency.
Islamist militancy has escalated dramatically in Egypt this winter, including the largely lawless region
adjoining Israel and the Gaza Strip, since the army deposed Islamist Mursi in July, following mass protests
against his rule.

Since then the army has launched a wide-scale operation in Sinai targeting Islamist militants, and security
forces launched a crackdown on Islamists and Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood which authorities labelled a
terrorist organisation. The Brotherhood denies any links to violence. The attack marks a shift in strategy
among Sinai’s militants to targeting “softer” tourist and economic targets. Egypt’s vital tourism industry
has already been hit hard by three years of political turmoil and street protests.

Islamist terrorist commandos launch near-daily attacks on security forces in northern Sinai, while the
south, with its many Red Sea resorts, had been seen as a relatively safe tourist destination, government
officials said. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for several bombings, including an attempt
to kill the interior minister in Cairo last year. The organization also said it was behind a missile attack on a
military helicopter last month that killed five soldiers.

https://usdivetravel.com/T-EgyptTerrorism.html 6/8
11/22/22, 12:44 PM History of terrorism against tourists in Egypt, 1992 to present.

2015
CAIRO / Sept. 13, 2015 — The Associated Press reported today that Egyptian special forces who were
pursuing Islamic militants in the country’s western desert mistakenly opened fire on Mexican tourists
who were on a safari, killing 12 unarmed civilians and setting back the country’s efforts to revive its
faltering tourism.

Egyptian officials said the group had no formal permits to be in the area, but have not released a
complete account of Sunday’s incident, in which another 10 people were wounded. Mexico’s President
Enrique Pena Nieto condemned the attack and called for a full investigation. And Claudia Ruiz Massieu,
Mexico’s foreign minister, said stunned survivors told officials they were attacked by helicopters and
other aircraft.

The incident, among the worst attacks on tourists ever in Egypt, occurred while the government is
desperately trying to rekindle tourist flow, which has waned since the 2011 uprising that brought down
President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt has mainly been battling insurgents in the northern Sinai Peninsula, on the other side of the
country, where Islamic militants stepped up attacks on security forces after the military ousted Islamist
President Mohammed Morsi in 2013 amid large-scale protests against his rule.

But in recent months militants loyal to the Islamic State have carried out a series of brutal attacks in
Egypt, including the bombing of the Italian Consulate in Cairo plus kidnapping and beheading a Croatian
oil surveyor who was working in the capital.

Mona el-Bakri, the spokeswoman for the Dar al-Fouad hospital where the wounded were being treated,
said two of the seven Mexicans receiving treatment also hold American citizenship. A State Department
official said an American woman was injured. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined
to say more because the woman had not waived her privacy rights.

According to Associated Press, Egypt’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that a joint military-police
force was pursuing “terrorist elements” in the area and fired on four vehicles that turned out to be
carrying tourists. The ministry said the victims were Egyptian and Mexican. Egyptian authorities claim the
safari convoy had wandered into a restricted area without formal permission.

October 31, 2015 --

All 224 people on a Russian jetliner were killed today when an Airbus A321 crashed in Egypt's
Sinai peninsula shortly after takeoff from the popular Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-
Sheikh, officials reported. Shortly after the plane went down, the terror group ISIS took credit for
planning & executing the crash. The Metrojet flight, carrying 217 passengers and seven crew, was
en route from Sharm to St. Petersburg, Russia when it plummeted off radar screens & crashed in
a remote desert sector, only 23 minutes into the doomed flight.

This was the air accident with heaviest death toll in the history of Russian aviation, surpassing
even a 1985 disaster in Uzbekistan in which 200 people died, the Russian-run news agency RIA
reported. "Unfortunately, all passengers of flight 7K9268 Sharm el-Sheikh-Petersburg were
killed," The Russian embassy in Cairo said, in Russian, on Twitter. "We express our condolences
to the family and friends." Egyptian officials said the 7-person crew and 214 of the passengers
and all of the crew were Russian and that three of the passengers were Ukrainian, RT.com
reported. The victims included 17 children, aged 2 to 17, according to Russian authorities.
https://usdivetravel.com/T-EgyptTerrorism.html 7/8
11/22/22, 12:44 PM History of terrorism against tourists in Egypt, 1992 to present.

Dec. 4, 2015 --

At least 16 people were killed and five more injured in an explosive Molotov Cocktail attack on a
nightclub near Cairo, the Egyptian capital, according to the country's state-run news agency,
MENA. The attack, with hand-made fire-bombs, took place early Friday morning, MENA said.
This club is in the Agouza neighborhood in Egypt's Giza governorate on the outskirts of Cairo, on
the western bank of the Nile River. That suburb is favored by a significant number of foreign
nationals. State-run Al-Ahram reported that masked assailants attacked the nightclub, and the
Egyptian prosecutor and police are currently investigating. Defying all credible logic, and widely
dismissed by news pundits worldwide, Egypt's state-run Nile TV reported that authorities say the
attackers' motive was criminal and not related to terrorism.

2017
April 11, 2017 - CNN, the New York Times and wire services reported that Egypt's government
declared a 3-month state of emergency after two suicide bombings targeted Coptic Christian
churches on Palm Sunday, killing at least 49 worshippers and bystanders. The Islamist group ISIS
claimed full responsibility for the bombings, which were aimed at a Christian religious minority
on one of their most sacred holy days of the Christian calendar. At least 27 people died in a blast
inside a church in the northern city of Tanta, and 78 people were injured, according to Egypt's
state-run news agency Al-Ahram. In Alexandria, 18 civilians and four police officers were killed
when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Coptic church, Al-Ahram explained. Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi declared three days of nationwide mourning after these terror
bombings and said a three-month state of emergency would take effect once constitutional
measures are finished. In response to these calculated terrorist attacks, the country will also
form a supreme council to counter terrorism and extremism, Sisi said on national television April
9 after an emergency meeting of the country's National Defense Council.

© Copyright Reuters Limited & U.S. Dive Travel Network.

Home / Dive Resorts / Live-Aboards / Snorkeling / Who We Are / Book a Trip

https://usdivetravel.com/T-EgyptTerrorism.html 8/8