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"Vietnam asks that Egyptian authorities open an investigation to find and deservingly punish whoever was responsible for this terrorist attack.
"Vietnam calls on governments and people globally to unite against terrorism relentlessly to build a peaceful life and grant free, safe travels for good people around the world," Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said Saturday.
A bus carrying 15 Vietnamese tourists who were traveling from Cairo to the Giza pyramids on a seven-day tour organized by Ho Chi Minh City-based travel agency Saigontourist was hit Friday night by a roadside bomb placed near a wall along the Mariyutiya Street in Al-Haram District.
Three Vietnamese tourists and one Egyptian tour guide were confirmed dead in the blast. Twelve others were injured.
Among the injured, 10 suffered heavy injuries and are being treated at a local hospital while two others sustained minor injuries and were taken to the Vietnamese Embassy in Egypt for care.
Vietnam’s foreign ministry has requested the Egyptian Embassy in Hanoi to grant urgent visas to family members of the Vietnamese victims of Friday's bomb blast and asked that it works with parties involved to protect the victims’ legal rights.
The bombing is the first deadly attack against foreign tourists in Egypt in over a year and comes as the tourism sector, a vital source of foreign currency revenue, recovers from a sharp drop in visitor numbers since the country’s 2011 uprising, Reuters reported.
Egyptian authorities are probing the bomb attack. There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident.
Egypt has for years been battling an Islamist insurgency in North Sinai, which surged following the 2013 military ouster of president Mohamed Morsi, according to AFP.
Security forces have since February been conducting a major operation focused on the Sinai Peninsula, aimed at wiping out a local Islamic State branch.
More than 450 suspected jihadists and around 30 Egyptian soldiers have been killed since the offensive began, the army said in October.
