Sinai tourism threat

In the first attack on tourists in Egypt since 2006, two South Korean tourists, a South Korean guide and an Egyptian bus driver were killed by a suicide bomber who boarded a tour bus in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Feb. 16. Fourteen other South Koreans on board were injured. They were heading from St. Catherine’s monastery to Israel.

The Islamic group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis claimed responsibility and stated that the bomb was part of its “economic war” with Egyptian authorities, leading to concerns that further attacks on tourists and tourism sites may be planned. 

The US Department of State is urging travelers to avoid North Sinai, and the UK Foreign Office has banned travel by Britons to all Sinai sites except for the Sharm el Sheikh resort area on the southern tip of the peninsula.