UPDATE: The explosion appears to have been caused by a “device” placed on the bus — hence the murderous attack is almost certainly the work of the warriors of Allah:
MOI: 3 Koreans killed, 14 injured. 32 passengers. device was already on bus coming from St Catherine. Went off during a drop off at Hilton
— آدم مكاري (@adamakary) February 16, 2014
—–
UPDATE: Three tourists killed, 27 injured in bus blast targeting #Egypt‘s Red Sea Resort of Taba. Reports indicate those dead are Korean.
— Egyptian Streets (@EgyptianStreets) February 16, 2014
This story is just breaking. There is no word yet on whether or not this was a jihad attack, although Ahram Online’s “Related Story” is “Are Egypt’s police outmatched in the war on terrorism?,” and Sinai is a hotspot for jihad activity, and jihadists have targeted tourist enterprises before, so it is more likely to be jihad terror than, say, a faulty fuel pump. Still, accidents do happen, as does jihad.
Note to mainstream media reporters: my headline above is how a headline should be written when there is not 100% certainty about the perpetrator. Once the perp is known, to obfuscate his identity and motives is to abet his criminal act — which you people regularly do.
“BREAKING: Sinai tourist bus explodes in Egypt’s Taba, at least 3 dead,” from Ahram Online, February 16:
A tourist bus exploded in Taba, Sinai on Sunday afternoon, Egyptian state TV reported.
Security sources said at least three Korean tourists were killed in the blast and others injured.
Al-Ahram Arabic news site reported that 30 tourists of various nationalities were on the bus when it exploded.
Official death and injury tolls are yet to be revealed.

Always On Watch says
Let us remember that Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Pfffft.
If any Americans were killed in this incident, Obama might interrupt his latest rounds of golf to issue a statement filled with platitudes, followed by returning to his usual malpractice of government.
Salah says
The Egyptian army led by Sisi is doing a great job in Sinai. The Muslim Brotherhood thugs and their jihadists offshoots are on the run. Nevertheless, it is virtually impossible to completely eliminate all acts of terrorism.
No, Robert. It was not a faulty fuel pump!
zulu1 says
CAIRO: A bomb tore through a bus carrying South Korean tourists near an Egyptian border crossing with Israel on Sunday, killing at least four people and wounding 13, officials said.
The bombing marked the first attack on tourists since the ousting of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July sparked unrest across the country.
The bomb went off in the front section of bus carrying the tourists at Taba border crossing with Israel in south Sinai, the interior ministry said, adding that one of those killed was the Egyptian driver.
Health ministry spokesman Ahmed Kamel told AFP four people were killed in the explosion and 13 were injured.
The bomb peeled off the front of the yellow bus and tore out parts of the roof.
The interior ministry said in a statement the tourists had set off from Cairo and were waiting at the crossing to enter Israel when the explosion took place.
A spokesman for the Israel Airports Authority, which is responsible for border security, told AFP that the Taba crossing had been closed in the wake of the blast.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Scores of policemen and soldiers have been killed in bombings in Sinai and the Nile Delta, but Sunday’s attack was the first targeting tourists since Morsi was deposed.
The unrest has severely hit tourism, a vital earner in Egypt, which has been targeted sporadically by militants over the past two decades.
The government’s census agency said the number of tourists was down in December 2013 by almost 31 percent compared with the same month in 2012.
Sunday’s bombing came as a court in Cairo opened the trial of Morsi and 35 co-defendants on charges of espionage and collusion with militants to carry out attacks in Egypt.
The military-installed government has accused the Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood of masterminding the attacks that have also targeted police headquarters in Cairo.
The Brotherhood, now designated as a terrorist group, denies its involvement in the bombings.
The deadliest attacks have been claimed by the Sinai-based Ansar Beit al-Maqdis group, whose leadership is drawn from militant Bedouin who want an Islamist state in the peninsula.
The group also took responsibility for downing a military helicopter in Sinai on January 25 using a heat seeking shoulder fired missile.
That attack prompted concerns that militants could use such weapons to target commercial flights to resorts in south Sinai.
Between 2004 and 2006, scores of Egyptians and foreign tourists were killed in a spate of bombings in resorts in south Sinai.
In 1997, Islamist militants massacred dozens of tourists in a pharaonic temple in the southern city of Luxor.
In Cairo, a French tourist was killed in a 2009 bombing at the historic Khan al-Khalil bazaar, which police at the time blamed on militants from the neighbouring Palestinian Gaza Strip.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1087436/four-killed-as-egypt-bus-carrying-tourists-bombed
zulu1 says
https://www.dawn.com/news/1087436/four-killed-as-egypt-bus-carrying-tourists-bombed
CAIRO: A bomb tore through a bus carrying South Korean tourists near an Egyptian border crossing with Israel on Sunday, killing at least four people and wounding 13, officials said.
The bombing marked the first attack on tourists since the ousting of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July sparked unrest across the country.
The bomb went off in the front section of bus carrying the tourists at Taba border crossing with Israel in south Sinai, the interior ministry said, adding that one of those killed was the Egyptian driver.
Health ministry spokesman Ahmed Kamel told AFP four people were killed in the explosion and 13 were injured.
The bomb peeled off the front of the yellow bus and tore out parts of the roof.
The interior ministry said in a statement the tourists had set off from Cairo and were waiting at the crossing to enter Israel when the explosion took place.
A spokesman for the Israel Airports Authority, which is responsible for border security, told AFP that the Taba crossing had been closed in the wake of the blast.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Scores of policemen and soldiers have been killed in bombings in Sinai and the Nile Delta, but Sunday’s attack was the first targeting tourists since Morsi was deposed.
The unrest has severely hit tourism, a vital earner in Egypt, which has been targeted sporadically by militants over the past two decades.
The government’s census agency said the number of tourists was down in December 2013 by almost 31 percent compared with the same month in 2012.
Sunday’s bombing came as a court in Cairo opened the trial of Morsi and 35 co-defendants on charges of espionage and collusion with militants to carry out attacks in Egypt.
The military-installed government has accused the Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood of masterminding the attacks that have also targeted police headquarters in Cairo.
The Brotherhood, now designated as a terrorist group, denies its involvement in the bombings.
The deadliest attacks have been claimed by the Sinai-based Ansar Beit al-Maqdis group, whose leadership is drawn from militant Bedouin who want an Islamist state in the peninsula.
The group also took responsibility for downing a military helicopter in Sinai on January 25 using a heat seeking shoulder fired missile.
That attack prompted concerns that militants could use such weapons to target commercial flights to resorts in south Sinai.
Between 2004 and 2006, scores of Egyptians and foreign tourists were killed in a spate of bombings in resorts in south Sinai.
In 1997, Islamist militants massacred dozens of tourists in a pharaonic temple in the southern city of Luxor.
In Cairo, a French tourist was killed in a 2009 bombing at the historic Khan al-Khalil bazaar, which police at the time blamed on militants from the neighbouring Palestinian Gaza Strip.
RoofGardener says
In 2010, tourism was responsible for 10% of total employment in Egypt, equating to around 2.5 million jobs. In turn, this generated around 11% of GDP and – critically – around $14 Billion, or 20% of foreign currency earnings. (e.g. “hard” money).
After each terrorism attack, tourism declines, and takes around a year to recover. However, there is a cumulative effect: the more attacks, the longer it takes to ‘rebound’.
Is it the Muslim Brotherhoods desire to DELIBERATELY crash the economy by frightening away tourists ? After all, their largest recruiting pool are those who are (1) Young, (2) Disaffected, (3) poor, and (4) poorly educated. Knocking out 10% of employment would increase that pool NICELY.
It would also send their economy into a death spiral, resulting in a perpetually impoverished and ignorant population. Oh… wait… welcome to the Islamic World.