国际英语新闻：Cairo blast kills French woman, injures 20: health ministry

CAIRO, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- At least one French tourist was killed and 20 people were wounded in a blast in Cairo's populous al-Hussein district on Sunday evening, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

    A French woman died in hospital of her wounds sustained in the explosion, which happened between the al-Hussein mosque and the Khan al-Khalili bazaar, a tourist attraction, at some 6:50 p.m. local time (1600 GMT), it said.

Egyptian policemen keep order in the blast scene located between the al-Hussein mosque and the Khan al-Khalili bazaar in Cairo, capital of Egypt, Feb. 22, 2009

The 20 injured, one of whom was in critical condition, included13 French tourists, three Saudis and four Egyptians, it said, adding that they were rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment.

    Xinhua reporters at the scene said that some 20 ambulances have arrived and police forces have cordoned off the area and investigation has been under way as high-level security officials arrived at the scene soon after the explosion.

    Local Nile TV quoted witnesses as saying that the explosion occurred after two suspects, hiding in a nearby building, threw two bombs at the crowd. One bomb went off at the scene and another was defused by the police.

    But the state MENA news agency quoted a security source as saying that the explosive might be hidden under a stone bench in the area.

Egyptian police secure the area near the site of an explosion in Cairo, February 22, 2009.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was concerned about the victims and has ordered prompt treatment for the wounded, the news service added.

    Meanwhile, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar University Sheikh Mohamed Sayyed Tantawi, Egypt's top cleric, condemned the bombing as a "cowardly criminal act."

    "(The blast's) perpetrators are traitors to their nation," the state MENA news agency quoted him as saying, adding that "Islam has nothing to do with such terrorist and irresponsible actions.

    Attacks against foreign tourists frequently haunted Egypt, where tourism is the prime earner of exchanges and contributes to 8.5 percent of GDP. In April 2005, two French tourists were killed and 18 others wounded in a suicide attack in the same area.