CNN - Gunmen open fire on tourists in Egypt

Gunmen open fire on tourists, 18 dead

April 18, 1996
Web posted at: 12:35 p.m. EDT (1635 GMT)

CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- At least 18 people were killed and at least 17 were wounded Thursday when gunmen shouting Islamic slogans opened fire on a group of tourists outside a Cairo hotel near the pyramids.

At least three men, who shouted "God is great," unloaded bullets from automatic weapons and pistols on a group of tourists outside the Europa Hotel, said police sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The gunmen, wearing black jackets, escaped with a driver in a van, they said.

According to eyewitnesses, the tourists were standing around a tour bus around 7 a.m. local time when the gunmen attacked, said CNN's Hilary Bowker reporting from Cairo.

No organization has claimed responsibility for the shooting, but Egyptian Interior Ministry officials are calling it a terrorist act, Bowker said. (254K AIFF sound or 254K WAV sound)

Greek tourists who managed to survive the attack described a scene of terror to Greek television.

"We were outside the hotel ready to leave and suddenly some people -- I don't know how many -- approached and sprayed the bus and the hotel with bullets," said Vassilis Bikas in an interview with SKAI television.

"People were crying for help. There were pools of blood everywhere," he added.

Angela Housea said, "We saw people dying in front of us. ... The bullets whisked past our heads."

An Egyptian Interior Ministry statement said 14 women and four men were killed in the attack.

The front of the hotel was peppered with bullets, and taxis in front of the building had windows blown out, the news agency reported. The hotel is located near Egypt's pyramids.

Bus driver Gamal Mahmoud Hussein told the news agency that one gunman with a pistol stood across from the hotel while three others fired automatic rifles. The man with the pistol apparently was the driver.

"I tried to chase after them when they were getting into a microbus, but one of the terrorists starting aiming his weapon at me so I had to stop," he was quoted as saying. "They got away."

Egypt has fought an insurgency by Muslim militants since 1992 who want to overthrow the secular government and create an Islamic state. Most of the attacks over the last two years have primarily been confined to southern Egypt.

More than 920 people have been killed in the violence, mostly police and militants.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Gunmen open fire on tourists, 18 dead

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