Berlin 'dismayed and furious' over murder of German women in Egypt

German officials said on Saturday they had been left “dismayed and furious” by the stabbing of two German women at an Egyptian beach resort, calling it a deliberate attack on foreign tourists.

An Egyptian man stabbed the two German tourists to death and wounded at least four others on Friday at a popular seaside vacation spot on the Red Sea, officials and witnesses said.

The knifeman killed the two German women and wounded two other tourists at the Zahabia hotel in Hurghada, then swam to a neighbouring beach to attack at least two more people at the Sunny Days El Palacio resort before being caught by staff and arrested, officials and security sources said.

It was the first major attack on foreign tourists since a similar assault on the same resort more than a year ago, and comes as Egypt struggles to revive a tourism industry hurt by security threats and years of political upheaval.

“We now have the sad certainty that two German women were killed in the attack in Hurghada,” a German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said, adding:

According to what we know, the act was a deliberate attack on foreign tourists – a particularly devious and criminal act that leaves us sad, dismayed and furious

Read: Germany warns citizens against travelling to Egypt

Sources close to the investigation told Reuters the attacker was taken to Cairo for questioning by prosecutors after officers from Egypt’s domestic security agency conducted an initial inquiry.

The suspect, from a village in the southern Kafr al-Sheikh province, arrived in Hurghada at 5 am on Friday in a public bus and waited until shops opened before buying a knife, the sources said.

He then bought a ticket for 100 Egyptian pounds ($5.60) to enter a beach where he killed the two German tourists and injured two others before jumping over a wall, swimming to the neighbouring beach and carrying out more stabbings.