FCO updates Egypt travel advice following latest bombings
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office has updated its travel advice to Egypt following several fatal bomb blasts on Friday, including two in the southern Sinai Peninsula, about 60 miles from Sharm el Sheikh.
However, the Foreign Office has not imposed a ban on travel to Sharm.
Reuters news agency said three policemen and a soldier were wounded in a suicide bomb in El Tor (also known as At Tur), which is the administrative capital of South Sinai, located on the main road between Cairo and Sharm.
A second suicide bomb was detonated on the road between Sharm and El Tor, wounding four Egyptians.
A spokesman for the governorate of South Sinai province, speaking to CBC television, identified the wounded as employees of a tourism company. The Interior Ministry said they were factory workers.
The Foreign Office, which continues to advise against all but essential travel to the Peninsula, with the exception of Sharm el Sheikh and the airport, said: "Reports indicate that they targeted police checkpoints and a passenger bus on the road South of El Tor. There were a number of deaths and injuries."
The attacks in Sinai were followed by a bomb blast at a police checkpoint at Cairo University, which killed one policeman and wounded three others.
Security has been stepped up to protect the Sharm el Sheikh resort areas following the attack on a tourist bus in at Taba, near St Catherine’s Monastery, in February, which killed three tourists from South Korea and the bus driver.
The Foreign Office said: "Egyptian military are situated in Sharm el Sheikh international airport, at check points around the perimeter of Sharm el Sheikh and throughout the South Sinai Governorate. Routine security checks are being performed on entry into the airport and the police are carrying out vehicle checks in Sharm el Sheikh."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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