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Egyptian group claims

responsibility for killing

18 Greek tourists

CAIRO: An Egyptian Muslim militant group said its members shot dead 18 Greek tourists outside a Cairo hotel on Thursday in an attack planned to killed Israelis to avenge Israel's raids on Lebanon.

The Gama'a al-Islamiya (Islamic Group), in a statement faxed to an international news agency late on Friday, vowed to attack Israeli interests until the Jewish state stopped pounding Lebanon.

It also warned foreign visitors to stay away from Egypt.

"The military wing of the Gama'a al-Islamiya announces its responsibility for the Jihad (Holy struggle) operation that targeted a tourist group and killed 18 and wounded 15," the group said.

"This operation was revenge from the sons of monkeys and pigs and the worshippers of evil -- the Jews -- and to avenge the deaths of the martyrs in Lebanon. The operation was meant for a Jewish tourist group because they often stay in this hotel," it added.

Four men with Kalashnikov assault rifles opened fire on a group of Greek tourists outside the Europa Hotel near the Pyramids as they waited for a bus to take them to Alexandria early on Thursday.

Tour guides said the Israelis often stayed at the Europa but hotel employees said there were none there at the time of the attack.

It was the bloodiest attack on tourists in Egypt since the Gama'a first used violence against the tourist industry in 1992 to damage Egypt's economy as part of its campaign to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak's government.

"The operation was meant to take place at a time when Jewish tourists were supposed to be going to Alexandria. But we were surprised to find the Jews had been replaced by Greeks as a result of security plans by the Egyptian police to safeguard the Jews," the Gama'a said.

"All Jewish interests on Egyptian land will be targeted by our mujahiddeen (holy fighters) until the Zionist enemy's barbaric attack against Lebanon ends," it added.

Israel has killed more than 150 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, in a 10-day campaign it says is aimed at stopping Moslem guerrillas from firing rockets into northern Israel from south Lebanon.

The Gama'a said Egyptian officials lied when they said they had curbed the activity of militants and warned tourists to stay away for their own safety.

"We will continue our operations against the Egyptian president. We renew our warning to tourists to not come to Egypt for their own safety and we tell them not to be fooled by the secular liars who say they have curbed terrorism. The proof (of the lies) is what happened on Thursday," it said.-Reuter