CAIRO — Militants with explosives battled Egyptian security forces outside the ancient Karnak temple in Luxor on Wednesday, striking one of Egypt’s most famous tourist sites and raising fears over the potentially expanding reach of the country’s Islamist insurgency.
Four Egyptians were injured in the attack, which unfolded near the temple complex after security forces opened fire on three militants, media reports said.
One attacker detonated his explosives just outside the temple — built during the age of the pharaohs — while another was injured and a third killed, Egypt’s Interior Ministry said.
There was no immediate assertion of responsibility. But the violence marked a significant escalation in attacks against the Egyptian government and the country’s vital tourist revenue.
In response to the Luxor attack, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi ordered beefed-up security at key sites — including antiquities — across the country, according to the state-run MENA news agency.
Militants spurred by the military’s overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood two years ago have waged a low-level insurgency. Since 2013, hundreds of soldiers and police officers have been killed by roadside bomb blasts and in drive-by shootings. Car bombs have detonated outside security buildings in several provinces.
But so far the militants have avoided direct attacks on foreign visitors or tourist sites, saying that their fight is with the state.
Tourism was a major driver of Egypt’s economy before its Arab Spring uprising in 2011. But years of turmoil and street protests have sharply cut into tourist arrivals. Authorities have tried to revive the country’s image as a tourist destination but have faced setbacks.
In early 2014, a suicide bomber detonated explosives on a bus carrying foreign tourists in Taba, a popular beach and diving center near the Israeli border. That attack was claimed by the Sinai-based militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which has since pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
On June 3, two gunmen on a motorcycle killed two policemen near the famed Giza pyramids outside Cairo.
But attacks in Egypt’s far south, where Luxor is, have been rare.
