Militants Attack Egyptian Train, Wound 4

Muslim militants attacked a luxury-train sleeping car in central Egypt early Saturday, wounding four people and striking a new blow at the country’s tourist industry.

The militant group Gamaa al Islamiya, or Islamic Group, said it carried out the attack as “swift retribution” for the recent sentencing to death of an army officer and two conscripts charged with mining an airstrip close to the Libyan border.

In a statement to an international news agency, the group said that the men, whom it called “heroes,” were members who were charged with attempting to assassinate President Hosni Mubarak by blowing up the airstrip at Sidi Barrani.

The strip is often used by Mubarak or by ministers who stop there before driving into Libya in compliance with the U.N. ban on flights to that country.

The Gamaa, which said another three of its members were sentenced to 10 years’ hard labor, threatened further action if the condemned men are executed.

In Saturday morning’s attack, about six men opened fire on the sleeper as the Cairo-to-Aswan express, headed for Luxor and the ancient capital of the pharaohs, passed through the village of Baqur south of Asyut. The side of the car was riddled with bullets, and some windows shattered.

An Egyptian woman was wounded in the thigh by a bullet. The other victims--a female architect from Poland, a female student from Taiwan and an Egyptian man--were cut by flying glass or shrapnel.

Security sources said some spent cartridges found at the scene were inscribed with slogans like “Islam is coming” and “Revenge for our martyrs.”

Officials in Asyut, speaking on condition of anonymity, said police had made 11 arrests, all suspected militants.

Egyptian militants have previously opened fire on tour buses and Nile cruisers, but Saturday’s attack was the first on a train frequented by tourists.

It was the third attack on foreigners in a week but the first this year in which foreigners have been injured.

Some foreign workers left Asyut on Thursday after extremists fired on a bus carrying Romanian workers. No one was injured in that attack, also claimed by the Gamaa al Islamiya. In addition, the group claimed responsibility for shots fired at a Nile cruiser just north of Asyut on Wednesday.

About 300 people have died since extremists launched a violent campaign two years ago to topple Egypt’s secularist government.