Three tourists hurt in Egypt hotel attack, one assailant killed

Three European tourists were slightly wounded Thursday in an attack on a hotel at Egypt's Red Sea resort of Hurghada, police said, adding that one "armed" assailant was killed and another injured.

The tourists - two Austrians and a Swede - "have suffered knife wounds but they are in stable condition," said health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed.

The assailants were "armed" with knives when they attacked the hotel, police said.

One of the assailants was killed and the other seriously wounded, a police official said earlier, adding that security forces had "foiled" the attack.

He said the tourists had been "slightly wounded".

A statement from the interior ministry said the assailants had tried to enter the hotel from its restaurant on the street front.

The assailants were aiming to kidnap tourists and one wore an explosive belt, Egyptian officials told the BBC.

The BBC's Sally Nabil in Cairo says Hurghada remains on high alert with all roads in and out closed off. Police forces are still searching for possible further attackers, she says.

The attack comes a day after a gang of youths hurled fireworks and birdshot at a bus and police guarding a Cairo hotel on Thursday, without hurting anyone, according to officials and witnesses.

A security official said about 40 Arab Israelis were inside waiting to board a bus when that attack occurred.

The Islamic State (IS) group on Friday claimed responsibility for that attack.

IS also claimed responsibility for downing a Russian passenger plane on 31 October after it took off from the airport of Sharm el-Sheikh, another Egyptian Red Sea resort, killing all 224 people on board.

But Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has dismissed the claim as "propaganda" and promised a transparent probe into the Russian plane tragedy.

He also promised that the government would support Egypt's vital tourism industry, which has plunged since the Russian plane crash.

The country has been roiled by violence since the army, then led by Sisi, ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The attacks have largely focused on security forces in reprisal for a fierce crackdown on Morsi supporters.