René O'Deay gBlog

Daily News Egypt - Full Article: "Decade-old Luxor massacre changed tourism, terrorism in Egypt
By Daily News Egypt: November 16, 2007 [AP ]
AP: Coffins of 36 victims of the Luxor massacre, 35 Swiss and one foreign Swiss resident, are lined up in a hangar of Zurich airport late in this Nov. 19, 1997 file photo after arriving on an Egyptair flight from Cairo. A total of 58 foreigners were massacred at the Hatshepsut temple
CAIRO: It was a stunning attack, still recalled with horror a decade later: Terrorists armed with knives and automatic weapons massacred 58 foreign tourists, mainly Germans, Swiss and Japanese, at one of Egypt's most popular pharaonic temples. But despite the dramatic bloodshed, the Nov. 17, 1997 attack at Hatshepsut temple in Luxor turned out to be the last gasp in the wave of terrorism that struck Egypt in the 1990s.(?) The 10-year anniversary of the attack highlights the changes that have happened since in Egypt — both in tourism and terrorism.

An Egyptian fundamentalist living in exile in London, says radicals in Egypt have only gone underground, shifting from organized groups to more fragmented ones more difficult to spot.

"Egypt might be witnessing a period calmness but it's just temporarily," said El-Sirri who is facing two death sentences in Egypt for alleged involvement in terrorist groups.

"Groups in Egypt ... might exploit the current social and economic crises to wage new, more dangerous round of terrorism."

Who are they trying to fool?

"...the last gasp in the wave of terrorism that struck Egypt in the 1990s."??

Terrorists have struck tourists in Egypt again and again since then.

Would you go?
René