The slaughter of nine German tourists and their driver outside the Egyptian Museum raised worries Friday over the impact on the country's crucial tourism industry.
Islamic militants are blamed for the attack Thursday in which assailants hurled firebombs at a tour bus parked on one of Cairo's busiest squares at midday.Tourism is Egypt's second largest source of foreign currency, behind money sent from Egyptians working abroad, and provides income that is badly needed as the government pursues aggressive plans for economic privatization.
Newspapers Friday denounced the government's repeated claims that it has largely isolated militant attacks to the rural south.
"Our security officials have to stop parroting their routine boasting: `Terrorism is vanquished! We have annihilated its remainder!' " editor Samir Ragab wrote in the English-language Egyptian Gazette.
Galal Dwaidar, editor-in-chief of the Al-Akhbar newspaper said in a front-page editorial Friday that the attack was "a criminal act aimed, of course, at dealing a blow to the tourism movement and destroying the rising Egyptian economy."
Egyptian officials immediately sought to play down the impact of the attack.
But it was unclear how much impact the attack would have.