There was a bombing a little over an hour ago in Khan El'Khalili, a market and tourist destination downtown. I'm obviously safe (I've been sitting in sweatpants doing homework for the past 3 hours), and I've checked in with friends who were headed downtown this evening. The Residence Directors came around knocking on doors a few minutes ago, so they're checking up on all the students. I expect we'll be getting security briefings this evening and tomorrow.
There isn't a lot of information out yet, and I don't know anything more than BBC tells me. The bombs went off near the Hussein Mosque, which is a very central part of the market. Reports say a tourist was killed and a number of others injured. It was French and German tourists in the vicinity.
Here are some pictures of the mosque, the cafes directly in front of it (where I gather the bombs were detonated), and the market. Obviously a bustling place, and one of Cairo's biggest tourist destinations. This is bad bad bad news for everyone involved. I was really hoping not to go on lockdown this semester... ugh. At least I visited the place last weekend.... I somehow think I won't be going back anytime soon.
3 comments:
this is why i'm glad i went there pre-9/11. sorry to hear all of that. hopefully it's just an isolated incident done by some nutcase.
Hey! I read that article in the BBC this afternoon and I was worried! Glad to hear you're ok!
This is Matt, btw (or Talu! haha)
I'm so glad to hear you're okay. I know you can't really prevent it, but please, please take care and try to be safe.
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