Ten people, including seven German tourists, died and as many as 19 were injured in an attack on a tour bus in Cairo yesterday. The attack took place shortly after noon outside the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square.
The German Foreign Ministry said it had confirmed that seven of the dead were Germans but believed the total was nine. The Egyptian Interior Ministry listed nine German names as victims and said the 10th was the Egyptian bus driver.
An Egyptian official said many of the bodies were charred beyond recognition and that 33 German tourists had been in the bus.
First reports said the police suspected the attack was the work of Islamist extremists. However, Egyptian officials last night said a "mentally deranged" man and his brother had staged the attack.
"This is not a political or terrorist act, but a criminal one by a mentally deranged person and his brother," the Tourism Minister, Mr Mamdouh el-Beltagi, said. The ministry identified the gunmen as Mr Saber Farahat Abu el-Ela and his brother Mahmoud, who were both arrested. The third gunman, shot in the head, was in a critical condition.
Witnesses said that a group of young men had approached the parked bus, one of them taking petrol bombs from a bag and throwing them inside. Meanwhile the others raked a nearby bus with machinegun fire and shot at tourists trying to escape.
Police then opened fire on the attackers, wounding two in a lengthy shoot-out. Two of the men escaped.
The head of Egypt's council for antiquities, Dr Ali Hassan, said the attackers had tried to enter the museum compound but had been unable to get past the police.
Hundreds of tourists were in the museum when the attack took place and they remained locked inside while police combed the area for the missing attackers.
The attack came only three days after four members of Egypt's largest Islamist group, the Gama'a alIslamiya, were sentenced to death.