Briton Dies as Fundamentalists Fire on Bus in Egypt

A worsening wave of fundamentalist violence struck Egypt’s popular tourist industry again Wednesday when Islamic extremists opened fire on a tour bus in southern Egypt, killing one British tourist and wounding two others.

The attack on a tourist minibus outside Dairut on Wednesday, the latest in a series of militant attacks on foreign tourists, followed a warning by Islamic militants for tourists to avoid the popular region of Pharaonic temples and ancient tombs.

A government statement carried by Egypt’s Middle East News Agency said the tourist minibus came under “heavy fire” shortly after 3 p.m. on the highway near Dairut, about 200 miles south of Cairo.

A young boy on the road apparently whistled as the bus carrying nine passengers approached, and unidentified men opened fire from either side of the road, the driver of the bus told authorities.

Three British passengers were wounded, and one of them, identified as Sharon Hill, 28, died after surgery at Dairut Hospital, hospital officials said.

The tour bus carried six Britons, two Australians and one Portuguese. The remaining passengers were under police guard Wednesday night.

A caller who said he spoke for the outlawed Gamaa al Islamiya, the most extreme of Egypt’s fundamentalists groups, telephoned a news organization in Cairo and claimed responsibility for the attack, the Reuters news agency reported.

The attack escalated the threat to Egypt’s $3-billion-a-year tourist industry, the country’s largest foreign-currency earner and apparently the latest target of choice for Islamic extremists seeking to overthrow the government and establish an Islamic government in Egypt.

On Oct. 2, Islamic fundamentalists opened fire on a Nile cruise ship carrying 140 German passengers in southern Egypt, wounding three Egyptian staff members.

Less than a week later, four people were killed and about 10 wounded when a suspected Islamic extremist unsuccessfully tried to hurl a bomb from the window of a train at security officials outside.

Islamic fundamentalists have said in recent statements that they are not targeting tourists in their attacks. But Gamaa al Islamiya issued a statement last month warning tourists to avoid the southern Egyptian tourist mecca of Luxor.

The organization warned that foreigners could become caught in the cross-fire between Islamic leaders and security forces battling in the region.

Wednesday’s incident marks the ninth such attack against foreign tourists. So far this year, 72 people have been killed and 93 wounded in violent clashes between Islamic fundamentalists and Egyptian security forces. But no foreign tourists had been seriously injured until Wednesday’s shooting.