18:57 GMT, Sunday, 22 February 2009 Cairo is hit by deadly bomb blast Police have now sealed off the area in the heart of Cairo At least one person has been killed and 17 injured in a bomb explosion in the Egyptian capital Cairo, police say. The dead person was said to be a French tourist. According to another report, from Reuters news agency, four people including two foreigners were killed. The blast happened outside a cafe in the historic Khan al-Khalili area popular with tourists. It was a relatively small explosion and was most likely caused by a home-made explosive device, police say. Police say the bomb was thrown from a motorbike near the Hussein mosque and a well-known bazaar which was crowded with shoppers. Those injured in the blast included tourists from France and Germany, as well as Egyptians. The area has now been sealed off as bomb disposal experts are trying to defuse a second device which failed to explode, reports say. "I was praying and there was a big boom and people started panicking and rushing out of the mosque, then police came and sealed the main door, evacuating us out of the back," Mohammed Abdel Azim, who was inside the mosque, told the AP news agency. So far no-one has claimed responsibility for the blast. The area was targeted in 2005, when three people - including an American and a French tourists - were killed in a blast. Sunday's explosion would be of a huge concern to Egypt's security services, the BBC's Christian Fraser in Cairo says. These are tense times for the Egyptian government, our correspondent says. He adds that the government has been criticised for its stance over a recent conflict in Gaza and has many enemies. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7904731.stm
===================================================== [The numbers of dead and injured keeps fluctuating, depending on the source of the report...as is usually the case in Mid-East/Asia attacks. By tomorrow we may finally find out how many have died/injured and their nationality. This incident is probably related to negotiations over recent Gaza activity. -- ERRI/CLS] -- Posted By Breaking News to Break News at 2/22/2009 09:12:00 PM
