Police arrested three men at Cairo International Airport carrying forged Saudi passports Monday in a massive manhunt by Egyptian and Israeli investigators for two gunmen who killed at least 10 people and wounded 16 on an Israeli tour bus.
Two groups claimed responsibility for Sunday's bus attack on a highway 37 miles east of Cairo. The Islamic Jihad made the latest claim in a written statement sent to an international news agency in Amman, Jordan."Our struggle with the Jews will continue until victory and with the help of God to smash all those who dream about a peaceful solution" in the Middle East, said the statement by the Islamic Jihad.
Sunday, a previously unknown group calling itself the Group for Oppressed Prisoners claimed responsibility for the attack.
The masked gunmen sprayed the vehicle with bullets. Police said one gunman then boarded the vehicle and lobbed hand grenades inside. The bus was carrying 31 Israeli tourists, a Swede and an Egyptian security guard, Cairo Radio reported. The nationality of the driver was not immediately known.
Egypt declared a "national security alert to catch the killers," said a police spokesman in Cairo. Roadblocks in Cairo were lifted at dawn Monday but were still in place near the town of Ismailiya, where the ambush occurred, witnesses said.
An Interior Ministry spokesman in Cairo said, "Three suspects have been detained at the Cairo airport in connection with the attack. They were carrying forged Saudi Arabian passports."
The spokesman did not give the nationalities or destination of the arrested suspects.
He also said said police "found the car used by the gunmen abandoned north of Cairo."
State-run Cairo Radio quoted Egypt's ambassador in Israel as denying Egyptians were behind the attack. Egyptian police sources said the gunmen spoke with a non-Egyptian accent.
In the wake of the assault, a vote of confidence scheduled for Wednesday on Israeli Premier Yitzhak Shamir was postponed by Israel's right-wing Likud party.
Diplomatic sources in Cairo said Israeli security officers were in Egypt to help investigate the attack. Egypt is the only Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel.
The assault left in doubt the prospect of a meeting scheduled for Geneva next week between the foreign ministers of Egypt, the United States and Israel, to discuss ongoing U.S. efforts to promote Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.