Egypt expels 20 French suspected Islamists

Jul 04, 2009 at 19:11

Ordered out are French Muslims detained in investigation into February Cairo attack that killed French teen.

Egypt has expelled about 20 suspected French Islamists over the past month, an Egyptian security official told the news agency AFP on Saturday.

"About 20 French Muslims detained in the investigation into the Cairo attack in February that cost the life of a French girl have been expelled, little by little," the official said, declining to be named.

He said that no charges were filed against the French nationals but they were considered religious extremists and undesirable in Egypt.

A French consular official told AFP "a certain number of French nationals were detained along with other foreigners" after the attack and "asked to leave Egypt at their own expense and without any legal case" against them.

A French teenager was killed on February 22 in a bomb attack in Cairo's famed Khan al-Khalili bazaar, in the first deadly violence against Westerners in Egypt since 2006.