Egyptian officials say a roadside bomb has hit a tourist bus near the Giza Pyramids, wounding at least 17 people, including tourists.

The officials said the bus was travelling on a road close to the under-construction Grand Egyptian Museum, which is located adjacent to the Giza Pyramids but is not yet open to tourists.

The bus was carrying at least 25 people mostly from South Africa, officials added.

There were no reports of deaths. A witness, Mohamed el-Mandouh, told Reuters he heard a “very loud explosion” while sitting in traffic near the site of the blast.

Pictures posted on social media showed a bus with some of its windows blown out or shattered, and debris in the road next to a low wall with a hole in it. The explosion damaged a windshield of another car, they said.

Egypt has battled Islamic militants for years in the Sinai Peninsula in an insurgency that has occasionally spilt over to the mainland, hitting minority Christians or tourists.

The attack comes as Egypt’s vital tourism industry is showing signs of recovery after years in the doldrums because of the political turmoil and violence that followed a 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Hosni Mubarak.

It is the second attack to target foreign tourists near the famed pyramids in less than six months.

In December, three Vietnamese tourists and an Egyptian guide were killed and at least 10 others injured when a roadside bomb hit their tour bus less than 4 kilometres from the Giza pyramids.

At least 12 people have been injured in a blast targeting a tourist bus near the new Egyptian museum close to the Giza Pyramids, two security sources say. The sources said that most of the injuries on Sunday were foreign tourists.

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