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Two Vietnamese tourists, guide killed by Egypt roadside bomb

Two Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian tour guide were killed Friday when a roadside bomb blast hit their bus as it travelled close to the Giza pyramids outside Cairo, officials said.

This picture taken on December 28, 2018 shows the scene of an attack on a tourist bus near the Giza Pyramids outside Cairo

An interior ministry statement said 10 other tourists from Vietnam and the Egyptian bus driver were wounded when the homemade device exploded at 6:15 pm (1645 GMT).

The improvised explosive device was placed near a wall along the Mariyutiya Street in Al-Haram district near the Giza Pyramids, the statement said.

Armed security personnel quickly deployed to the site and cordoned off the area for inspection.

The white tourist bus could be seen with its windows shattered and surrounded by soot-covered debris.

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Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli was set to visit the injured tourists in hospital after following up with his ministers on the incident, a government statement said.

Madbouli said that the Egyptian tour guide had died in hospital from his wounds.

Egypt's tourism industry has been struggling to recover from terror attacks and domestic instability that has hit the country in recent years.

In July 2017, two German tourists were stabbed to death by a suspected jihadist assailant at the Egyptian Red Sea beach resort of Hurgada.

In October 2015, a bomb claimed by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group killed 224 people on board a passenger jet carrying Russian tourists over the Sinai peninsula.

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The incident dealt a severe blow to Egypt's tourism industry still reeling from the turmoil set off by the 2011 uprising that forced veteran leader Hosni Mubarak from power.

Egypt has for years been battling an Islamist insurgency in North Sinai, which surged following the 2013 military ouster of president Mohamed Morsi.

Security forces have since February been conducting a major operation focused on the Sinai Peninsula, aimed at wiping out a local IS branch.

More than 450 suspected jihadists and around 30 Egyptian soldiers have been killed since the offensive began, the army said in October.

The Pyramids of Giza are the only surviving structure of the seven wonders of the ancient world and a major tourist draw attracting visitors from across the globe.

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