Bomb blast in Midan Hussein

We've just heard from our good friends Caroline and Dave that this evening there was a bomb blast in Midan Hussein - one of our favourite places to take visitors, as it's at the entrance to the Khan El-Khalili market.

You might remember us visiting the square for Iftar during Ramadan back in September. The video of that visit is below.

You can see the mosque from about 35seconds in.

This footage of the square shortly after the bombing is a stark contrast to our experience at Iftar.

I'm not sure whether we're shaken up by this or not. In a way we are - it's an area we like to visit and show people to - but at the same time it feels so distant as it's a place that requires some effort to get to from where we live. The attack appears to have been targeting tourists (why else would they attack a tourist market?) so as ex-pats I don't feel that we're at risk.

For people planning to visit us, please don't worry. Remember that Egypt is usually a very safe place - helped by the swarms of police. Until more details are released I don't think we'll know how the people responsible managed to carry out this attack, but as tourism is the life-blood of the Egyptian economy I am sure that security will be increased and checks carried out more frequently than ever.

Reports are nwo saying that the police have arrested three suspects, and are questioning other witnesses. It is widely put forward that the attack was the work of amateurs, as the bombs were simpel devices, who were protesting Egypt's response to the current issues in Gaza. Why qould they attack tourists? Well, mainly because attacking tourists hits the government where it hurts. It guarantees massive media coverage, and damages the government's revenues from teh industry as people are scared away. Sadly, the tourists are just innocent bystanders who are being used for political means.