The 2014 Taba bus bombing was a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

attack on a tourist coach in Taba,

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

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

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

at the Taba Border Crossing, when a lone

suicide bomber A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

entered the open bus and detonated his explosives. Four people – three

South Koreans Demographic features of the population of South Korea include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population. The common language and especiall ...

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 for modern, armed militant Political aspects of Islam, Islamic movements that seek to Islamic state, establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation ...

groups in the

Sinai insurgency The Sinai insurgency was an insurgency campaign in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt launched by Islamist militants against Egyptian security forces, which also included attacks on civilians. The insurgency began during the Egyptian Crisis, duri ...

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 ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Saint Catherine's Monastery Saint Catherine's Monastery ( , ), officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Catherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, is a Christian monastery located in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Located at the foot of Mount Sinai ...

in the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), 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 land bridge between Asia and Afri ...

. 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 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, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

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 ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (, "Islamic Group") is an Egyptian Sunni Islamist movement, and is considered a terrorism, terrorist organization by the United Kingdom and the European Union, but was removed from the United States list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations i ...

and the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, 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 global non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1995. It is a think tank, used by policymakers and academics, conducting research and analysis on global crises. ...

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.

International response

- EU High Representative Catherine Ashton condemned the “terrorist attack on a tourist bus in Sinai,” expressing solidarity with victims and supporting Egypt’s democratic transition. - The U.S. State Department criticized what spokeswoman Jen Psaki called a “cowardly attack” targeting innocent tourists in Taba. The department offered condolences to the victims’ families. - Foreign Office Minister Hugh Robertson issued a statement strongly condemning the bombing, extending the British government’s “deepest condolences” to the families of the victims. - A spokesperson for the French foreign ministry, Romain Nadal, said that France stood in solidarity with Egypt and

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, condemned the attack, and reiterated support for Egypt’s stabilization and democratic transition. -

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

’s Foreign Ministry described the bombing as an “ inhuman and

unethical Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied eth ...

act,” voicing shock, condemnation, and appreciation for Egypt and

’s swift medical response. It introduced a travel ban for its citizens visiting Sinai and surrounding regions. - Secretary-General Nabil al‑Arabi strongly denounced the bombing, characterizing it as an assault on Egyptian tourism and the broader region’s stability. - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki‑moon issued a strong condemnation, offered condolences to Egypt and South Korea, and called for those responsible to be brought to justice. The

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

similarly condemned the attack, emphasizing terrorism’s threat to international peace.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taba bus bombing Mass murder in 2014 Terrorist incidents in Egypt in 2014 Terrorist incidents in the Sinai Peninsula Attacks on tourists in Egypt Bus bombings in Asia Suicide bombings in Egypt Egypt–South Korea relations Sinai insurgency South Sinai Governorate 2014 murders in Egypt Islamic terrorism in Egypt Islamic terrorist incidents in 2014 Suicide bombings in 2014 February 2014 in Egypt 21st-century mass murder in Egypt South Korean people murdered abroad Bus incidents in Egypt 2014 road incidents in Asia February 2014 crimes in Asia

Victims

Responsibility

Impact

International response

See also

References