Has anyone ever been to Egypt??

April 7, '05 -- A fringe extremist group dubbing itself Islamic Brigades of Pride delivered a crude homemade bomb -- packed with nails -- on the back of a motorcycle, driven by a suicide bomber right into the heart of the historic shopping bazaar called Khan al-Khalili. The blast killed 2 tourists, a French woman & an American man, & wounded about 18 other people, some critically. The marketplace was strewn with debris & body parts. The motorcycle driver who delivered the bomb also was killed.

April 30, '05 -- Two veiled women in their 20s opened fire on a tour bus in a historic district of of Cairo, wounding two passengers then killing themselves. Two hours earlier that same day, a man suspected of involvement in a Cairo tourist bombing April 7 (see above) -- whom authorities identified as the brother & fiance' of the women who attached this tour bus -- jumped wildly from a bridge overpass during a police chase & ignited a bomb he was packing, killing himself. These incidents occurred behind the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo, wounded seven persons in all, four of them foreign tourists. A group calling itself the Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for the dual attacks April 30, '05, saying they were in revenge for the thousands of arrests of suspected militants that followed the April 7, '05 bombings along the Red Sea. Abdullah Azzam was a Palestinian terrorist who worked alongside Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, & was killed there in 1989.

July 22, '05 -- Islamic terrorists triggered nearly-simultaneous bombings at the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing at least 88 people & injuring an estimated 200 others. Police reported the three explosions were two suicide car bombs & one planted bag bomb. It was Egypt's deadliest bombing in several years. The bombings happened on Egypt's National Day, which recalls the 1952 bloodless revolution that brought army officers to power after ousting King Farouk. One suicide car bomb killed 17 Egyptian workers in a coffee shop at the city's Old Market, police said. The other suicide car bomber struck the Ghazala Garden Hotel, streaking through a security checkpoint & slamming into the hotel's reception area before exploding. The hotel lobby area collapsed, along with its roof. The Old Market area was a vast mess of broken glass & litter. The third bomb was an improvised device left in a bag; & it killed six tourists at a beachfront parking lot & shuttle stop about two miles from the hotel. The explosions happened about 1:15 a.m. Egypt time, or 6:15 p.m. Friday EDT, but the hotels & the market were crowded anyway with tourists partying, or seeking relief from their hot hotel rooms. The first car was packed with 660 pounds of explosives & slammed into the reception of the Ghazala Gardens in Sharm's Naama Bay, the main strip of hotels, police said. The second bomb weighed about 440 pounds & exploded in a nearby area called the Old Market, frequented mostly by Egyptians working in the town's resorts. A third bomb, believed hidden in a sack, detonated near a beachside walkway where tourists often stroll at night. Dr. Saeed Abdel Fattah, manager of the Sharm el-Sheik International Hospital, where the victims were taken, said those killed included two Britons, two Germans & an Italian, he added. Czech officials said one Czech tourist was also killed. There were conflicting claims of responsibility. Several hours after the attacks, a group citing ties to Al Qaeda issued a claim on an Islamic Web site. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, Al Qaeda, in Syria and Egypt, was one of two groups that also claimed responsibility for October bombings at the resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan that killed 34. This same terror group also claimed responsibility for a Cairo bombing in April.