http://www.smh.com.au/world/egypt-police-shoot-two-suicide-bombers-as-a-third-blows-himself-up-in-luxor-20150610-ghl4uk
Egypt police shoot two suicide bombers as a third blows himself up in Luxor
The scene of the attack outside the Temple of Karnak in Luxor. Photo: Reuters
A suicide bomber blew himself up near near one of Egypt's most popular tourist destinations on Wednesday, security sources and witnesses said, the second attack in a little more than a week targeting the country's vital tourism industry.
Police said the attacker died when he detonated a bomb he was carrying near the ancient Karnak temple in Luxor.
Officers shot two other attackers as they pulled out weapons concealed in their bags, killing one and seriously wounding another, according to police at the scene.
The Temple of Karnak in Luxor. Photo: AFP
"Security forces in Luxor foiled a terrorist operation ... Two terrorists killed and a third was wounded," police said in a statement.
No tourists were injured, a source at the interior ministry said. Four Egyptians – two bazaar shop owners and two policemen – were wounded, the health ministry said.No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Luxor, some 700 kilometres south of Cairo.
Police kept visitors at the temple inside the site during the operation, a senior antiquities ministry official said.
Islamist militants have killed hundreds of police and soldiers over the past two years in a campaign to topple the Egyptian government, but there have recently been attacks on softer tourist and economic targets.
Gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead two members of Egypt's tourism and antiquities police force on a road near the Giza pyramids last week.
A suicide bombing last year on a tour bus in the restive Sinai Peninsula, home of the local branch of the jihadist Islamic State group, killed three South Koreans and their Egyptian driver.
Karnak was built on the ruins of Thebes, one of the capitals of ancient Egypt. Its huge temple is dedicated to the god Amon.
Tourism in Egypt has faltered since early 2011, when a popular uprising toppled long-time strongman Hosni Mubarak after three decades in power.
Years of instability and a rising tide of attacks claimed by jihadists have scared off would-be visitors, damaging the economy and sending Egypt's foreign currency reserves plunging.
Luxor has had to deal with numerous blows, including a deadly hot air balloon crash in 2013 that killed 19 tourists.
The town took several years to recover from a 1997 massacre when Islamist gunmen opened fire on tourists at an ancient temple complex, killing 58 foreigners and their four Egyptian guards.
AFP, Reuters
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