Bomber hurt as device explodes

A bomber was seriously hurt today when an explosive device – believed to have been intended for tourist shops near the famous Pyramids of Giza – blew up, police said.

There were no other casualties.

The incident came amid heightened fears of attacks on tourists in Egypt after Saturday’s string of simultaneous bombings in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheik, 250 miles east of the capital. Security was intensified in many parts of Cairo, including the Pyramids.

Investigators were trying to determine whether the man, identified as Sami Gamal Ahmad, 33, was taking the explosive to the nearby tourist area of Kerdassa, a bazaar of souvenir shops near the Pyramids, a senior security official involved in the investigation said.

The device, which the man was carrying in a sack, apparently went off accidentally in the neighbourhood of Kufr Tuhurmus, several miles from Kerdassa, said the official.

Ahmad, a hospital employee, was too badly injured to be interrogated, the official said.