2017 Hurghada attack
Part of Sinai insurgency
Location of Red Sea Governorate in Egypt
LocationHurghada, Red Sea Governorate, Egypt
Date14 July 2017
Attack type
stabbing
Deaths3
Injured4
PerpetratorsAbdel-Rahman Shaaban
MotiveIslamic extremism

On 14 July 2017 Abdel-Rahman Shaaban, a former university student from the Nile Delta region, swam from a public beach to each of two resort hotel beaches at Hurghada on the Red Sea and stabbed five German, one Armenian and one Czech tourists, all women, killing two German women. The Czech tourist died on 27 July. The perpetrator shouted that the Egyptian hotel personnel who gave pursuit after the stabbings at the second beach should "Stay back, I am not after Egyptians". Nevertheless, hotel personnel pursued and captured the attacker.

Background

In the similar 2016 Hurghada attack, foreign tourists were attacked on a beach at Hurghada by sympathizers of the Islamic State in Syria.[1][2]

The attacks at this Red Sea beach resort are part of a long series of attacks and threats that have crippled the Egyptian tourist trade, a vital part of the Egyptian economy.[3][4]

Attack

On 14 July 2017 a lone male swam from a public beach to the beach of a Zahabia Hotel tourist resort on the Red Sea in Hurghada, Egypt and attacked seven foreign tourists, identified as five Germans, a Czech and an Armenian. Two of the German women were killed. The perpetrator then swam to nearby El Palacio beach resort hotel where he attacked two more German women.[1][5] The Czech woman died on 27 July in a hospital in Cairo due to her severe injuries.[6]

The perpetrator, a man described as in his 20s wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, shouted in Arabic that he was not attacking Egyptians and was heard to shout "you infidels" as he stabbed his victims on the second beach.[1][7]

Perpetrator

The attacker, 29-year-old Abdel-Rahman Shaaban, spoke to his victims in fluent German before stabbing them. He is from Kafr el-Sheikh province in the Nile Delta, and a graduate of the local branch campus of the Al-Azhar University, which has been accused of doctrinal rigidity and political extremism.[2][3]

Deutsche Welle reports that according to "a source close to the investigation perpetrator "communicated with [the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (IS) group] via internet and was given the task of attacking foreign tourists on Hurghada beaches" by the extremist militia."[3]

Reactions

On 28 July 2017, the Czech Republic asked Egypt to announce more details of what happened in the attack and to consider compensating the victims' families.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Walsh, Declan (14 July 2017). "European Tourists Stabbed at a Beach Resort in Egypt; 2 Die". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  2. ^ a b Hatem, Ahmed (15 July 2017). "Egypt knife attacker first sat, spoke with 2 German victims". ABC News. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  3. ^ a b c Regev, Dana (15 July 2017). "Egypt's tourism industry suffers a critical blow". DW. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  4. ^ Walsh, Declan and Karasz, Palko (24 August 2018). "Hundreds of Tourists Evacuated From Hotel in Egypt After Britons' Sudden Death". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  5. ^ Sanchez, Raf (16 July 2017). "Two tourists killed and four wounded in Egypt beach resort stabbing". The Telegraph. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  6. ^ The stabbed Czech woman died in Egypt, novinky.cz, 27 July 2017
  7. ^ Two tourists stabbed to death in beach attack at Egyptian resort, The Guardian, 14 July 2017
  8. ^ "Czech foreign minister says Egypt 'must announce what happened' in Hurghada beach attack". Ahram Online. 28 July 2017.
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