CAIRO, 9 April 2005 — The latest victim of the bomb that went off in the crowded Khan Al-Khalili in Cairo on Thursday was an 18-year-old American as police searched for clues to the blast.
At the scene of the blast, Minister of Tourism Ahmad Al-Maghrabi said the American teenager, identified as Alex Miranette, died overnight from wounds sustained in the blast that killed a Frenchwoman and a man who was probably the bomber. Eighteen people were injured in the explosion.
“Only two French tourists are still in hospital and one of them is in a very critical condition...the rest of the wounded left hospital early in the morning and the French tourist group continued its tour with a visit to the Saqqara pyramids and is traveling to Upper Egypt today,” he said.
According to a government spokesman, the explosive device was homemade and packed with nails. It is not clear how the bomb was delivered, whether from the back of a speeding motorcycle, as originally alleged by witnesses, or just tossed into the crowd.
“According to preliminary information, it was an individual operation. Its perpetrator used a very crude type of device consisting of powder and nails that are often used by one-person operations,” said government spokesman Magdi Radi. “The unidentified body we found at the scene of the blast could be of the bomber himself but we have to give investigations enough time before we jump to conclusions,” he told Arab News.
An unknown Islamist group called the Islamic Pride Brigades in the Land of the Nile put an Internet posting yesterday claiming responsibility of the attack, which it said was carried out by Abou Al-Alaa Al-Masri.
Near Al-Azhar Mosque, hundreds of Egyptians staged demonstrations protesting the attack. “We condemn the brutal attack that only serves the enemies outside and inside Egypt,” said Egypt’s Mufti Ali Gomaa.
The Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Mahdi Akef said in a statement that the act does not reflect the real attitude of Egyptian people. “We call on our people to unite against such acts which are odd to the nature of the Egyptian people,” Akef added.
Muhammad Abdel Bari Muhammad, a 35-year-old Egyptian who was wounded in the blast, said he could not imagine seeing anything like the attack that happened on Thursday.
“I was walking in the street and all of a sudden there was a very loud noise and my body flew and I fainted for a few moments. When I woke up I saw people screaming and running around and blood on the ground,” said Muhammad.
“Some of the people I saw were severely wounded and a man had his shirt on fire while he was running screaming and asking for help,” he remembered.
