Islamic supremacism: always a boon to the tourist trade. “British tourists targeted in ‘massacre plot’ at Egypt beach resort – but police swoop on al-Qaeda terror suspects just in time,” by Alex Ward for the Daily Mail, November 2 (thanks to Benedict):
Five terrorists have been caught apparently plotting an attack on British tourists in an Egyptian resort in the lead-up to Christmas.
The suspected jihadists were arrested by Egyptian counter terror police as they collected rocket-propelled grenades, rifles and pistols in an attempt believed to be similar to the Mumbai attacks in India which killed 166 people in November 2008.#
Authorities claimed that the gang planned to attack the “˜softer target of British tourists” holidaying at the idyllic beachside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea.
The arrests come after al-Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri called for a new wave of violence, appealing to jihadists around the world to attack and kidnap westerners.
The Daily Mirror quoted a security source saying: “˜There are increasing fears that Zawahiri is demanding more attacks on civilian areas with a focus on Americans and Brits….
Attacks in Egypt have been on the rise since Salafi Islam fundamentalist groups linked to al-Qaeda have grown in Egypt’s Sinai region.
Attacks have been made on UN peacekeepers, Egyptian forces, Israel and a gas pipe to Israel and Jordan.
Tourists have been targeted before by extremists in Egypt during a wave of violence in the 1990s.
Some 62 tourists were massacred by six men disguised as security force staff with knives and automatic guns at an archaeological site across the Nile from Luxor in 1997.
At the time, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak blamed the British government partly for the attack after the Egyptian terror chiefs responsible were given asylum in the UK.
The Sharm el-Sheikh resort has been targeted before in 2005 when two car bombs went off at the centre of the resort and another in the city”s Old Market while restaurants, cafes and bars were packed, killing 88 people and wounded 150….