Bomb thrown by motorcyclist in Cairo kills 2, wounds 20

CAIRO, Egypt -- An explosion apparently set off by a bomber on a motorcycle hit a tour group shopping in a historic bazaar Thursday, killing at least two people and wounding 20 -- the first attack targeting foreign tourists in the Egyptian capital in more than seven years.\nThe dead included a French woman, officials said. Earlier a Health Ministry official said the other person killed was an American man, but later Health Minister Mohammed Awad Tag Eddin said his nationality had not been confirmed.\nThe wounded included 11 Egyptians and nine foreigners -- and four of the 20 were in critical condition -- said Brig. Gen. Nabil al-Azabi, head of security in Cairo. Among the wounded foreigners were two Americans, two Turks, two Italians, two French citizens and a Briton, the Health Ministry said.\nThe U.S. Embassy in Cairo was putting out a warden message warning Americans to stay away from Khan al-Khalili, the sprawling bazaar area, and to use prudence elsewhere in the city, said embassy spokesman James L. Bullock. He would not confirm American casualties in the blast.\nEgypt has seen a long period of calm since it suppressed Islamic militants who in the 1990s carried out bombings and shootings against tourists in their campaign to bring down the government. The last significant attack on tourists in Cairo was in 1997.\nAt least two witnesses said a man on a motorcycle appeared to have set off a bomb near a tour group in the al-Moski bazaar, a maze of narrow alleys with shops selling jewelry, souvenirs and clothes connected to the biggest tourist souk, Khan al-Khalili.\nHours later, the site was littered with glass, metal fragments and body parts, as forensic experts and investigators searched for evidence. Officials warned the number of dead could rise.\nThe witnesses were not clear whether the man on the motorcycle was a suicide bomber or threw an explosive.\nPolice said two people were taken in for questioning and police were investigating a motorcycle found nearby with nails scattered around it. They would not confirm if the blast was from a bomb.\nRabab Rifaat, an Egyptian woman who was shopping in a store several yards from the blast, said she heard "a boom, a horrible sound, very loud. Everyone started running."\nShe said she then saw a decapitated head flying through the air.\nA large, organized tour group was in the market when the explosion went off, Rifaat said. Six or seven bodies lay on the ground afterward, some of them foreign-looking, and an Egyptian man ran with burns on his back and his clothes torn, Rifaat said. It was unclear if the bodies were dead or wounded.\nA French Embassy spokeswoman Bernadette Abou Bechara that a French woman, a tourist, was killed.\nHundreds of riot police sealed off the area, although tourists remained in Khan al-Khalili, several hundred yards outside the police cordon. Three officials from the U.S. Embassy arrived about three hours after the explosion and tried to make their way through the police cordon.\nA heavy police presence also surrounded al-Husseini University Hospital, where many of the wounded were taken.