Cairo: A man in his 20s stabbed six female tourists, two of them fatally, at a hotel in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada, the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior said Friday.
Two Ukrainian tourists were killed in the attack, the ministry said, and the other four wounded. The women were taken to a hospital, the ministry said. The conditions of the surviving women was not immediately available.
An eyewitness to the attack told the privately owned Al Masry Al Youm newspaper that the attacker, who was wearing jeans and a black T-shirt, was speaking on the phone just before the assault.
“I saw him speak over the phone and heard him say that he will jump in the water, asking the person on the line to pick him up,” but as soon as he jumped into the water, police officers followed and caught him, the witness told the newspaper.
The witness, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, added that he had an encounter with the suspect, and that the man told him to stay away from him because “he does not want Egyptians. They are not the ones wanted (targeted).”
The Ministry of the Interior said in a statement that the assailant is in police custody and is being questioned. The ministry added that it has established a security cordon around the site of the attack, and has ensured the safety of other tourists.
An Egyptian security official speaking to The Associated Press said the suspect swam up to the hotel where the attacks occurred from another beach. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to talk to the media.
He said that in addition to the two victims from Ukraine, the six tourists include three from Serbia and one from Poland. The tourists were stabbed in the face, neck and feet, he said.
— The Washington Post
