The location and timing of the bus attack in Cairo on Friday night, which killed four people, including three Vietnamese tourists, could not have been worse. It happened near the Pyramids, always a big draw for tourists. It is also the height of the tourist season and just as the tourism industry was picking up after the doldrums following the 2011 Arab Spring. In addition, it comes as the country’s main Christian minority, the Copts, who have in the past been terrorist targets themselves, prepare to celebrate Orthodox Christmas in early January.

No one has claimed responsibility for the roadside bomb that detonated near a wall as the bus was passing by, but by all accounts the attack was an act of terrorism. Consequently, the day after the attack, Egypt’s Interior Ministry announced it had killed 40 terrorists in a raid on three hideouts in Giza, where the attack happened, and the North Sinai governorate where the army and police have been for years fighting a low-level insurgency by extremists. The Interior Ministry said the raid was targeting terrorists who had been planning to carry out hostile acts during the end of year holiday celebrations on government and tourist facilities, army and police personnel and churches.

It is unclear whether the perpetrators of the bus attack were among those killed in the raid or even when the raids were launched. While the government did not link the two, it cannot be a coincidence that the raid was in response to the bus attack.

Terrorism is a global phenomenon facing many countries. France, Britain and Germany, to take but a few examples of where horrific acts of terrorism have been launched in the past three years, have worked more closely than ever with other European states in order to confront and thwart international terrorism. Security partnerships employing European intelligence cooperation and real-time intelligence-sharing have all reduced, though certainly not eliminated, terrorist atrocities. The hard lesson learnt from terrorist attacks is to try to prevent them from happening in the first place.

Egypt as well has had its terrorist activity noticeably reduced, especially in the big cities; no tourist has been killed in two years. But as the attack on the Vietnamese shows, the fight against terrorism continues. The battle is being fought to save lives as well as livelihoods. Tourism is a mainstay of the Egyptian economy. It peaked in 2010, when the country saw more than 14 million visitors, but fell sharply after the turmoil of the Arab Spring the following year. Worse was to come after militants bombed a Russian passenger jet in 2015 as it left the resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, killing 224 people. The following year just 5.3 million tourists visited. However, the sector recovered a bit when 8.3 million people visited in 2017.

The bus carrying the 14 Vietnamese tourists and two Egyptian tourism workers reportedly deviated from the pre-determined, secured route without notifying security officials. The driver denies this but the point is that Egypt would like to see the day when its tourist busses need not be escorted by police cars, and when its museums, bazaars, hotels, antiquity sites and resorts are safe and secure without a security presence.

Egypt needs tourists and needs tourists to return home safely.