CAIRO – A suicide bomber blew himself up near a major tourist site in Egypt’s southern city of Luxor on Wednesday, wounding four people, including two policemen, but no tourists were hurt in the attack outside the Karnak temple.
It was the second such incident this month in Egypt, after a drive-by shooting killed two policemen near the famed Giza Pyramids near Cairo last week, in a marked escalation by Islamic militants aiming to destabilize the government. The attacks also raise concerns for the country’s key tourism industry, just as it was beginning to recover from years of tumult following a 2011 popular uprising.
Here is a look at attacks on sites in Egypt visited by tourists and foreigners over the past two decades:
-June 3, 2015: Gunmen on a speeding motorcycle open fire outside the famed Giza Pyramids on the outskirts of Cairo, killing two police officers.
-Feb. 16, 2014: An explosion tears through a bus filled with South Korean sightseers in the Sinai Peninsula, killing three Korean tourists and an Egyptian driver.
-Jan. 24, 2014: A truck bomb targeting Cairo’s security headquarters kills four people and causes heavy damage to the nearby museum dedicated to Islamic arts and history.
-Feb. 22, 2009: A bomb explodes at a crowded square near Cairo’s popular Khan el-Khalili bazaar, killing a French teenager and wounding 24 other people, mostly fellow students on a class trip.
-April 24, 2006: Three nearly simultaneous bombings hit the Sinai’s seaside resort of Dahab, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 60.
-July 23, 2005: Two car bombs and a bomb in knapsack rip through a hotel and beach promenade in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing 64 people, mainly tourists.
-April 7, 2005: Suicide bomber kills two French citizens and an American near a market.
-Oct. 7, 2004: Bombings in the Sinai Peninsula resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan kill 34 people, including 11 Israelis.
-Nov. 17, 1997: Islamic militants kill 58 foreigners and four Egyptians in an attack outside Luxor at the 3,400-year-old Hatshepsut Temple on the west bank of the Nile. Police kill all six assailants.
-Sept. 18, 1997: Two gunmen kill nine German tourists and their driver in attack on tour bus outside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
-April 18, 1996: Four Islamic militants open fire on Greek tourists in Cairo, killing 18 people outside the Europa Hotel.