LUXOR (Web Desk) – A suicide bomber on Wednesday blew himself up near the ancient Temple of Karnak in the Egyptian city of Luxor, police said.
Local media reported that three assailants were killed in the attack and that four bystanders were injured.
The assailants reportedly tried to storm a barricade at the temple, one of Egypt’s most popular tourist sites, the BBC reported.
Two of the attackers are believed to have been shot dead by police, but a third passed through barricade and detonated an explosive device.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but militants have killed hundreds of security forces and government personnel since the military overthrew President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.
Last week, two members of Egypt’s tourism and antiquities police force were shot dead on a road near the pyramids at Giza.
In 1997, militants killed more than 60 people after attacking a group of foreign tourists visiting the Temple of Hatshepsut, across the River Nile from the city of Luxor near the Valley of the Kings.
The Karnak complex is a vast open-air museum, and the second largest ancient religious site in the world, after the Angkor Wat Temple of Cambodia.
Tourism is vital to Luxor which is home to some of Egypt’s most famous ancient temples and pharaohs’ tombs, including that of King Tutankhamun.
It was already suffering from the downturn in visitors as a result of the unrest following the 2011 revolution.
