The 2014 Taba bus bombing was a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

attack on a tourist coach in Taba,

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

on 16 February 2014. The bus had been parked, waiting to cross into

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

at the

Taba Border Crossing The Taba Border Crossing also known as the Menachem Begin Crossing ( ar, معبر طابا, he, מעבר מנחם בגין formerly he, מעבר טאבה) is an international border crossing between Taba, Egypt, and Eilat, Israel History Open ...

, when a lone

suicide bomber A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout history ...

entered the open bus and detonated his explosives. Four people – three South Koreans and the Egyptian bus driver were killed, and 17 others injured. The attack was seen as marking a potential shift in the strategy of

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...

groups in the

Sinai insurgency The Sinai insurgency is an ongoing insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, that was commenced by Islamist militants against Egyptian security forces, which have also included attacks on civilians. The insurgency began during the Egyptian ...

by broadening their campaign against Egyptian security forces to include tourists.

Victims

The bomber detonated his device on a tour bus carrying more than 30 members of a South Korean church group. They had traveled from

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...

Saint Catherine's Monastery Saint Catherine's Monastery ( ar, دير القدّيسة كاترين; grc-gre, Μονὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης), officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Katherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, ...

in the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a ...

. The bus was waiting to cross into Israel when the explosion occurred. The South Korean tourists belonged to the Jincheon Jungang Presbyterian Church. They had reportedly "saved for years to visit Biblical sites on the 60th anniversary of their church".

Responsibility

The day following the bombing, the Sinai-based jihadist group

Ansar Bait al-Maqdis Ansar Bait al-Maqdis (ABM; ar, أَنْصَارُ بَيْتِ الْمَقْدِس, Anṣār Bayt al-Maqdis, lit=Supporters of the Holy House), or Ansar Al-Quds (), was a jihadist, extremist militant group based in Egypt. Ansar Bait al-Maqdis ...

claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released on jihadist forums. In the statement, Ansar declared, "One of the heroes of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis carried out the attack on a tourist bus heading towards the Zionist entity (Israel)." The group said the attack was "part of our economic war against this regime of traitors ... which kills the innocent, destroys houses, ransacks properties and lays waste to land on the border with the Zionist enemy". On February 18, an affiliated

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account of Ansar told tourists to leave Egypt by February 20 or else they would be attacked. Egyptian Islamist groups, including the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassa ...

, al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya and the

National Alliance to Support Legitimacy The Anti-Coup Alliance (also known as the National Alliance Supporting Legitimacy) is a coalition in Egypt formed to reverse the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi. The coalition is made up of approximately 40 Islamist parties and groups. ...

, condemned the attack.

Impact

Issandr El Amrani of the

International Crisis Group The International Crisis Group (ICG; also known as the Crisis Group) is a transnational non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1995. It is a think tank, used by policymakers and academics, performing research and analysis on globa ...

said, "A continuation in attacks on tourists would mean a shift in strategy by jihadist groups that until now targeted the military and police... but that cannot be judged after one attack". Following the attack, many tourist operators cancelled trips to the Sinai. The tourism industry is a key sector of the Egyptian economy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taba bus bombing Mass murder in 2014 Terrorist incidents in Egypt in 2014 Terrorist incidents in the Sinai Peninsula Tourism in Egypt Bus bombings in Asia Suicide bombings in Egypt Egypt–South Korea relations Sinai insurgency Attacks on tourists South Sinai Governorate 2014 murders in Egypt Islamic terrorism in Egypt Islamic terrorist incidents in 2014

Victims

Responsibility

Impact

See also

References