Daesh affiliate in Egypt claims attack on hotel near Pyramids

Cairo - The group says the attack was in response to a call by the group's leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi "to target Jews everywhere."

A Daesh affiliate in Egypt has claimed responsibility for an attack on a hotel near the Giza Pyramids the previous day that authorities said had left no casualties, according to a statement circulated on Friday by sympathisers of the militant group.
Egypt's Interior Ministry said no one was hurt in Thursday's incident at the Three Pyramids Hotel, but the attack damaged the hotel's facade and also a bus parked in front of the building. A group of about 15 attackers fired birdshot and flares at the hotel's security post. A suspect was arrested and police were still searching for the rest of the group, the ministry said.
Arab Israeli tourists staying at the hotel said the attackers used flares and live bullets. Israel's Foreign Ministry said no Israelis were hurt.
But a statement carried on Friday by Daesh sympathisers on Twitter claimed there were dead and wounded among the tourists and security officers protecting the hotel.
It said the attackers "were able to target a tourist bus carrying Jews with light weapons" - an operation the Daesh affiliate claimed was in response to a call by the group's leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi "to target Jews everywhere."
The Associated Press could not independently verify the authenticity of the claim but it was similar to previous postings by the Daesh affiliate.
Egypt has been battling an insurgency by militants in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula.

• MENA