CAIRO (AP) - A deadly suicide bombing that hit a bus of South Korean Christians visiting Biblical sites in Egypt and Israel has raised fears that Islamic militants battling security forces in the Sinai Peninsula are turning to target foreign tourists, a potential new blow to a struggling industry vital to Egypt's economy.
Though it has proven resilient to past attacks, Egypt's slumping tourism is already suffering from three years of political turmoil that has scared away visitors. After hopes of a rebound, last year saw the fewest visitors yet since the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
The new attack could be even more damaging because it threatens a region that has kept Egypt's tourism alive even during the downturn - the beach resorts of the Red Sea in the Sinai Peninsula.
Those resorts on Sinai's eastern and southern coasts, a favorite of divers and Europeans escaping the winter, had seemed a world away from the political unrest in the Nile Valley, and even from the wave of Islamic militant violence on Sinai's northern Mediterranean coast.
Militants have waged a campaign of bombings and shootings targeting the military and police forces since the army ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last summer. Their nascent insurgency began in northern Sinai, but has struck with increasing frequency in the capital Cairo and other cities.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's bombing of the bus in Taba, a Red Sea resort on the border with Israel. But suicide bombings have become a hallmark of the al-Qaida-inspired militant groups operating elsewhere.