Egypt arrests seven over deadly Cairo bombing

Egypt said today that police have arrested seven members of an Al-Qaeda-affiliated cell over a Cairo bazaar bombing three months ago that killed a French tourist.

Egypt said on Saturday that police have arrested seven members of an Al-Qaeda-affiliated cell over a Cairo bazaar bombing three months ago that killed a French tourist.

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The interior ministry said those arrested over the February attack were a French woman of Albanian origin, a British man of Egyptian descent, two Palestinians, a Belgian man of Tunisian descent, and two Egyptians.

"(Police) were able through information received and surveillance, to identify a group, some of them Egyptians and others foreigners, affiliated with Al-Qaeda...And seven of them were arrested," it said in a statement.

It said members of the cell, which called itself the Islamic Army of Palestine and was led by two Egyptians living abroad, were found in possession of weapons and explosives.

"(The cell) worked on organising terrorist operations in the country and outside," the ministry said, without giving a date for the arrests.
An Egyptian minister had announced on Monday the arrest of suspects over the attack in the famed Khan al-Khalili bazaar on February 22 but gave no details on the number detained.

A French teenager was killed and 24 people, mostly tourists, were injured in the bombing, the first deadly attack on tourists in Egypt since 2006.