Egyptian police have detained 11 people for questioning about the bomb which killed a French teenager and wounded at least 21 people near a popular tourist bazaar in Cairo yesterday, police sources said today.
The detainees, all Egyptians, were in the area yesterday evening around the time of the explosion and were taken into custody overnight and this morning, they added.
The sources did not say if the police had any hard evidence against the detainees. After security incidents, Egyptian police usually cast their net very wide and then release most of the people they question.
The bomb, planted under a bench near the Khan el-Khalili market in mediaeval Cairo, was the first such attack on tourists in the city since April 2005 and the first in Egypt since an April 2006 bombing in the Sinai resort of Dahab.
The wounded included 13 French tourists, three Saudis, one German and four Egyptians.
No one has claimed responsibility and analysts said the bomb was probably the work of a small group of disgruntled Egyptians, similar to the one that carried out two operations in 2005.
The incident could damage the Egyptian tourist industry, which accounts for about 7 per cent of gross domestic product, although previous bombings had only a short-term impact.
Reuters