Luxor massacre

Luxor massacre
Djeser-Djeseru (Hatshepsut’s Temple), the location of the attack
Location	Deir el-Bahri, Egypt
Date	17 November 1997
Attack type	Mass shooting, mass murder, massacre, murder-suicide
Weapons	Automatic firearms, knives
Deaths	62 (not including attackers)
Non-fatal injuries	> 26
Suspected perpetrators	splinter group of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya

The Luxor massacre was the killing of 62 people, mostly tourists, on 17 November 1997, at Deir el-Bahri, an archaeological site and major tourist attraction across the Nile River from Luxor in Egypt.

It is thought to have been instigated by exiled leaders of Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, an Egyptian Islamist organization, attempting to undermine the July 1997 "Nonviolence Initiative", devastate the Egyptian economy and provoke the government into repression that would strengthen support for anti-government forces. However, the attack led to internal divisions among the militants, and resulted in the declaration of a ceasefire. In June 2013, the group denied that it was involved in the massacre.

Deir el-Bahri is one of Egypt's top tourist attractions, notably for the spectacular mortuary temple of 18th-dynasty female pharaoh Hatshepsut known as "Djeser-Djeseru."

In the mid-morning attack, six gunmen killed 58 foreign nationals and 4 Egyptians. The assailants were armed with automatic firearms and knives, and disguised as members of the security forces. They descended on the Temple of Hatshepsut at around 08:45. They killed two armed guards at the site. With the tourists trapped inside the temple, the killing went on systematically for 45 minutes, during which many bodies, especially of women, were mutilated with machetes. They used both guns and butcher knives. A note praising Islam was found inside a disemboweled body. The dead included a five-year-old British child and four Japanese couples on honeymoon.