An explosion targeting a tourist bus injured at least 12 people on Sunday, mostly South African tourists, near a new museum being built close to the Giza pyramids in Egypt, two security sources said. </s> GIZA CITY, GIZA, Egypt — At least 14 people were injured in an explosion that targeted a tourist bus carrying 25 South African citizens, Egypt’s state-run Ahram daily reported.

A device exploded near the bus, Ahram reported, while the windshield of another vehicle was damaged. The blast took place outside the yet-to-be-opened Grand Egyptian Museum, near the Giza pyramids.

Egypt’s Minister of Tourism Rania A. Al Mashat called it a “minor explosion” in a Twitter post. “Of the 28 passengers on the bus we can confirm some minor injuries with three being treated at the hospital as a precaution,” she wrote.

South Africa’s government issued a statement on Sunday, saying the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Lindiwe Sisulu, had been informed about the incident.

“Initial media reports suggest that South Africans might be among the injured,” the statement said. “The 24-hour operational center has been activated and South Africa’s Ambassador Vusi Mavimbela and his team in Egypt are engaging with authorities including visiting hospitals to verify the information.”

“The bus was hit but it didn’t look like it exploded,” Mona Zeidan, an eyewitness told CNN.

“They were all minor injuries and nothing serious,” Zeidan, who drove by the site of the explosion after the incident, told CNN.

“Security was inspecting the bus,” she added.

An official at the nearby Al-Haram Hospital told CNN they were receiving the injured tourists.

In December, three Vietnamese tourists and an Egyptian tour guide were killed when a roadside bomb struck a tourist bus in the Giza region. At least 11 people were injured in the attack. </s> At least 14 people have been injured in an explosion which targeted a tourist bus in front of the Grand Egyptian Museum close to the Giza Pyramids, according to Al Arabiya sources.

Most of those injured were foreign tourists, two sources told Reuters. One security source said they included South African nationals.

 

 There were no reports of deaths. A witness, Mohamed el-Mandouh, said he heard a “very loud explosion” while sitting in traffic near the site of the blast.

 

 Pictures posted on social media showed a bus with some of its windows blown out or shattered, and debris in the road next to a low wall with a hole in it.

 

 In December, three Vietnamese tourists and an Egyptian guide were killed and at least 10 others injured when a roadside bomb hit their tour bus less than four kilometers from the Giza pyramids. </s> CAIRO: An explosion targeting a tourist bus injured at least 12 people near a new museum being built close to the Giza pyramids in Egypt on Sunday, two security sources said. Most of those injured were foreign tourists, the sources said. One security source said they included South African nationals. There were no reports of deaths. A witness, Mohamed el-Mandouh, told media he heard a “very loud explosion” while sitting in traffic near the site of the blast. Pictures posted on social media showed a bus with some of its windows blown out or shattered, and debris in the road next to a low wall with a hole in it. In December, three Vietnamese tourists and an Egyptian guide were killed and at least 10 others injured when a roadside bomb hit their tour bus less than 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Giza pyramids. </s> CAIRO - A roadside bomb hit a tourist bus on Sunday near the Giza Pyramids, wounding at least 17 people including tourists, Egyptian officials said.

The officials said the bus was travelling on a road close to the under-construction Grand Egyptian Museum, which is located adjacent to the Giza Pyramids but is not yet open to tourists.

The bus was carrying at least 25 people mostly from South Africa, officials added.

Security forces cordoned off the site of the explosion and the wounded were taken to a nearby hospital, they said.

They said the explosion damaged a windshield of another car. Footage circulated online shows shattered windows of the bus. </s> A roadside bomb hit a tourist bus on Sunday near the Giza Pyramids, wounding at least 17 people including tourists, Egyptian officials said. The officials said the bus was traveling on a road close to the under-construction Grand Egyptian Museum, which is located adjacent to the Giza Pyramids but is not yet open to tourists. The bus was carrying at least 25 people mostly from South Africa, officials added. Security forces cordoned off the site of the explosion and the wounded were taken to a nearby hospital, they said.

READ MORE AT THE NY POST / AP </s> CAIRO (Reuters) - An explosion targeting a tourist bus injured at least 12 people on Sunday, mostly South African tourists, near a new museum being built close to the Giza pyramids in Egypt, two security sources said.

A third security source said the bus was carrying 25 South African tourists from the airport to the pyramids area, and that four Egyptians in a nearby car were also injured by broken glass.

Security and judicial sources said a rudimentary device containing nails and pieces of metal had been detonated remotely on the perimeter of the Grand Egyptian Museum, not far from the site of a roadside blast that hit another tourist bus in December.

Pictures posted on social media showed a bus with some of its windows blown out or shattered, and debris in the road next to a low wall with a hole in it.

One witness told Reuters he heard a “very loud explosion” while sitting in traffic.

South Africa’s foreign ministry said staff from its embassy in Egypt were visiting hospitals to check on the reported injuries.

The museum is due to open next year as the new home for some of the country’s top antiquities on a site adjoining the world-famous Giza pyramids. It is part of an effort to boost tourism, a key source of foreign revenue for Egypt.

The sector has been recovering after tourist numbers dropped in the wake of a 2011 uprising and the 2015 bombing of a Russian passenger jet.

There was no damage to the museum from the blast, which happened 50 meters from its outer fence and more than 400 meters from the museum building, the Antiquities Ministry said in a statement.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Egyptian security forces are waging a counter insurgency campaign against Islamist militants, some with links to Islamic State, that is focused in the north of the Sinai Peninsula.

Attacks outside Sinai have become relatively rare, though there have been several security incidents in recent months in Giza, across the Nile from central Cairo.

In December, three Vietnamese tourists and an Egyptian guide were killed and at least 10 others injured when a roadside bomb hit their tour bus less than 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Giza pyramids. </s> The bus was carrying at least 25 people mostly from South Africa, officials added.

CAIRO — A roadside bomb hit a tourist bus on Sunday near the Giza Pyramids, wounding at least 17 people including tourists, Egyptian officials said.

The officials said the bus was travelling on a road close to the under-construction Grand Egyptian Museum, which is located adjacent to the Giza Pyramids but is not yet open to tourists.

The bus was carrying at least 25 people mostly from South Africa, officials added.

The attack comes as Egypt’s vital tourism industry is showing signs of recovery after years in the doldrums because of the political turmoil and violence that followed a 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Hosni Mubarak.

The officials said security forces cordoned off the site of the explosion and the wounded were taken to a nearby hospital.

The explosion damaged a windshield of another car, they said. Footage circulated online shows shattered windows of the bus.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.

Atif Moftah, general supervisor of the Grand Egyptian Museum, said the explosion did not cause any damage to the museum, in a statement issued by the antiquities ministry.

No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. It is the second to target foreign tourists near the famed pyramids in less than six months. In December, a bus carrying 15 Vietnamese tourists was hit by a roadside bomb, killing at least three of them.

Egypt has battled Islamic militants for years in the Sinai Peninsula in an insurgency that has occasionally spilled over to the mainland, hitting minority Christians or tourists. The insurgency gained strength after the 2013 military overthrow of the country’s first freely elected president, an Islamist whose brief rule sparked mass protests. </s> Cairo, Egypt (CNN) At least 17 people were wounded in an explosion that targeted a tourist bus on its way to visit Egypt's Giza pyramids, a doctor at the hospital where they are being treated told CNN.

The bus was carrying 25 South African citizens, Egypt's state-run Ahram daily reported. A device exploded near the bus, while the windshield of another vehicle was damaged.

Tourists arrived in Cairo airport at noon Sunday and were on their way to visit the Great Pyramids of Giza when the blast hit their bus, a tour guide and one of the tourists told CNN outside Al-Haram Hospital where they were taken.

"As soon as the tour guide said this is the pyramids, the explosion happened," a woman wearing a blood-stained white T-shirt told CNN on her way out of the hospital. The interview was interrupted by security before the woman could provide her name.

Ten tourists and seven Egyptians were brought to Al-Haram Hospital with minor injuries, Ahmed Bassiouny, a medical doctor, told CNN. Ten patients have left the hospital, while seven were transferred to another hospital.

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An explosion hits a tourist bus carrying South African nationals near the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egypt, injuring at least 14 people.