Two German women confirmed killed in Egypt resort stabbing

Two German tourists were killed in a knife attack at a hotel in the popular Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada, officials have confirmed.

The German foreign ministry said it has the "sad certainty" that two German female tourists died in Friday's attack.

It did not give any other information on the victims.

Four other foreigners were wounded in the attack.

The ministry says in a statement: "According to everything that we know, this act was aimed at foreign tourists - a particularly perfidious and criminal act that leaves us sad, dismayed and angry."

Egyptian authorities say that the assailant, a man in his 20s, sneaked into the hotel by swimming from a nearby beach. He was arrested.

The attack on the tourists took place just hours after five policemen were killed in a shooting near some of Egypt's most famous pyramids in the greater Cairo area.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of a militant group known as Hasm that has been behind similar attacks in recent months.

Authorities said Hasm is a splinter faction from the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that was outlawed and declared a terrorist organisation, several months after the military ousted Mohammed Morsi, a senior leader of the Brotherhood who was elected president in 2012.

Friday's attacks are likely to further impact Egypt's tourism industry - a backbone of the country's economy that employs millions of people but which has been decimated by the political turmoil and fragile security roiling the country since the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.

The attacker in Hurghada, one of Egypt's most popular beach resorts and diving centres, stabbed the tourists in the face, neck and feet, according to security officials.

No-one claimed responsibility for the attack, but it appeared to have been inspired by recent calls by the local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group to attack Egypt's minority Christians and foreign tourists.

On Saturday, tight security was in place at the site of the Hurghada attack.

Egypt has been rocked by deadly suicide bombings, drive-by shootings and other attacks since Mr Morsi was ousted four years ago.

The violence has been concentrated in the northern Sinai Peninsula, but attacks have spread to the mainland, including the capital.

The last time tourists were attacked in Hurghada was in January 2016, when two Austrians and a Swede were stabbed by two suspected militants, also at a hotel.

They were only lightly wounded. Security forces shot the attackers, killing one and wounding the other before arresting him.

AP