Egypt makes 3 new arrests over Cairo bazaar blast
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-18 09:29

Egyptian authorities have arrested three more men over their suspected roles in the deadly blast that rocked a central Cairo bazaar, while a fourth suspect escaped, the interior ministry said.

The latest arrests brought to at least nine the number of people held by the security services over the April 7 attack which killed two French citizens, a US national and the bomber.

In this composite photo distributed by the Egyptian Interior Ministry Sunday, April 17, 2005, are seen, from right to left, Tarek Ahmed Al-Sayed, Akram Mohammed Fawzi, Reda Sayed Ahmed, and Ashraf Saied Youssef. Egypt's Interior Ministry identified the four men who are accused of training a bomber who killed himself, an American and two French tourists in Cairo on April 7.[AP]

"The security services have uncovered links between the perpetrator of the blast and a group of four people who took part in training and recruiting the culprit and in manufacturing the device," the interior ministry said.

Akram Fawzi, 35, Reda Ahmed, 19, and Tareq Ali, 34, were nabbed over the past few days in the Cairo district and north of the capital, in Qaliubia, it said in a statement sent to AFP.

The suspected accomplice on the run was named as Ashraf Said Yussef.

Fawzi was described as "the brain who masterminded and financed the attacks and provided his accomplices with compact discs (CDs) explaining how to manufacture explosive devices".

Egyptian policemen secure the site of a bomb blast at the Al-Moski bazaar in Cairo on April 8. Egyptian authorities have arrested three more men over their suspected roles in the deadly blast that rocked a central Cairo bazaar, while a fourth suspect escaped, the interior ministry said.[AFP/File]

The bomber, who was blown to pieces when the device he was carrying went off, was identified last week as an 18-year-old Islamist, following DNA tests by police.

The ministry named him as Hassan Raafat Ahmed Bashandi, an engineering student from Zagazig, northeast of Cairo. Yussef had led Bashandi to believe the device would explode with a five-minute time delay, it said.

The attack, which occurred in an alleyway of ancient Islamic Cairo near the famed Khan el-Khalili souk popular with tourists, was the first on foreign targets in Egyptian capital in more than seven years.

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