Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Egyptian police hunt for gunmen in tourist attack Date: Sat, 14 Nov 92 16:22:11 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Egyptian police hunt for gunmen in tourist attack \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT QENA, Egypt QENA, Egypt (AP) - Hundreds of police descended on a southern Egyptian town yesterday and arrested 170 people in house-to-house searches for suspects in an attack on German tourists, police sources said. The police bulldozed the house of a man arrested in the attack and said they would raze sugar-cane fields around the town to prevent Islamic terrorists from hiding in them. The raid on Hugairat, 10 miles north of Qena, was launched after a suspect in custody told investigators that three other assailants were hiding there. Five German tourists and two Egyptians were wounded Thursday when four Muslim extremists sprayed their minibus with gunfire in Qena, a provincial capital 300 miles southeast of Cairo. About 800 police officers in 50 armored personnel carriers and 30 civilian cars on Friday entered Hugairat, where 18,000 people live, witnesses said. Muslim extremists have carried out 11 attacks on foreign tourists this year. They say they are targeting tourism because it is Egypt's top foreign exchange earner, bringing in $3 billion last year. But Luxor, 40 miles south of Qena and the most-visited site in southern Egypt, remains packed with tourists. Jean Marc Busato, general manager of the five-star Luxor Movenpick Hotel, said he had expected a decline in bookings. Tourism officials had said about a third of European charter flights were canceled after extremists killed a British woman last month. "But I have the feeling that those charters were taken up by others," Mr. Busato said. "We're still fully booked." After the Oct. 21 bus attack, government officials promised to increase security in southern Egypt, where major ancient monuments are located. But there was little evidence yesterday of extra security in Luxor or at the airport. On the 125-mile road linking Luxor and Aswan, there was a lone patrol car with four policemen inside. In Hugairat, police officers in bulldozers destroyed the facade of a house belonging to Bastawi Abdel-Hamid Abul-Magd, an 18-year-old student who was arrested as a suspect in the latest attack. Witnesses in the town said a police officer used a loadspeaker to warn residents against helping the three other suspects, and said anyone who did would have their houses destroyed, too. Officers said police patrols had been increased and more checkpoints set up on the 430-mile road between Cairo and Aswan since Thursday's attack. Youssef Waly, a deputy prime minister, renewed Egyptian charges that Iran was behind a wave of extremism. "Iran aims at undermining stability in Egypt by encouraging renegades from the extremist groups and providing them money and arms," Cairo newspapers quoted Mr. Waly as saying. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM