Al-Qaeda's Terror at Luxor

The massacre last November 17 of 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians at the Temple of Hatshepsut, one of the great archaeological attractions of Egypt, captured the world's attention because of the number of victims, the horrific accounts of the survivors, and the savagery of the assailants. Eyewitnesses described how most of the victims, trapped on the raised terrace of the temple complex's middle courtyard, were killed by six men armed with knives and automatic weapons. Many of the tourists who tried to hide in the colonnades at the rear of the courtyard were hunted down and slain. The victims included 35 Swiss and a foreign resident of Switzerland; nine Japanese, including four couples on their honeymoons; six Britons, including a young mother and her baby; four Germans, a Bulgarian, a Colombian, and a Frenchman.