Egyptian police have detained at least five people for questioning about the bomb which killed a French teenager and wounded at least 21 other people near a popular tourist bazaar in Cairo yesterday.
The detainees, all Egyptians, include two women. All five were in the area on Sunday evening around the time of the explosion and were taken into custody overnight.
Sources did not say whether the police had any hard evidence against the detainees. After security incidents, Egyptian police generally cast their net very wide and then release most of the people they question.
The bomb, planted under a bench near the Khan el-Khalili market in mediaeval Cairo, was the first such attack on tourists in the city since April 2005 and the first in Egypt since an April 2006 bombing in the Sinai resort of Dahab.
The injured included 13 French tourists, three Saudis, one German and four Egyptians.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Analysts said the bomb was probably the work of a small group of disgruntled Egyptians, similar to the one that carried out two operations in 2005.
The incident could damage the Egyptian tourist industry, which accounts for about 7% of gross domestic product, but previous bombings had only a short-term impact.
