Militants Fire on Egyptian Trains

Suspected Muslim militants opened fire on two passenger trains in southern Egypt last week, wounding several people, according to wire reports at press time Wednesday. The two incidents--the first in seven months--came as tourism was reviving along the train route to Egyptian antiquities in the south. Both occurred near the village of Farshout in Qena Province, south of Assiut.

In the first incident, gunfire raked the Luxor-Cairo train that was carrying 850 passengers, including foreign tourists; the wounded were all Egyptian, however. In the second, gunmen opened fire on the Aswan-Cairo train. A French woman, a Polish woman and two Egyptians received minor injuries.

Tourists have been a target of fundamentalist militants trying to weaken the Egyptian government by undermining the tourism industry. Police suspect the attack was the work of Gama’a al-Islamiya (Islamic Group), Egypt’s largest militant organization.