February 18, 2014 | Quote
Tourist Attack in Egypt May Be a Turning Point: Analysts
Sunday's bomb blast on a bus carrying 33 tourists in the Red Sea resort town of Taba, which killed three South Koreans and the Egyptian bus driver, marked the first major attack on visitors to Egypt since 2006.
The attack represents a “new phase” in Egypt's ongoing battle against terrorist attacks growing since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, according to Iman Ragab, a researcher at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies Centre,
Until Sunday, all of the bomb attacks in recent months had targeted only security installations and personnel.
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David Barnett, a research associate at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who focuses on Salafi jihadists in Sinai and Gaza, told Ahram Online that it remains too early to decide whether Sunday’s attack is a start of a new trend targeting tourists.
However, Barnett said that if the attack were to be claimed by Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, the Sinai-based militant group responsible for most of the attacks since Morsi's ouster, then it would signify a shift in its target selection.