Man Held In Cairo Stabbing Had Attacked Before

Mohamed told police he had attacked out of hatred for foreigners, particularly after Israel`s offensive on the Gaza Strip.

An Egyptian man accused of stabbing an American teacher in a popular Cairo tourist area had spent time in a psychiatric hospital after a previous assault on tourists, state media said on Saturday.

Egyptian authorities charged the man, Abdel-Rahman Saleh Taher Mohamed, with attempted murder for stabbing the American on Friday in an area of the Egyptian capital that is home to the 14th century Khan el-Khalili market and many Islamic monuments.

The attack was the second on foreigners in the capital in less than a week. Security sources said the stabbing was not linked to the nearby bomb attack that killed a French tourist earlier this week.

State news agency MENA said Mohamed, 46, was mentally ill and had been hospitalised in 2000 after attacking tourists and police officers. He was released several months ago after his condition improved, it said.

Mohamed told police he had attacked out of hatred for foreigners, particularly after Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip. Authorities were seeking a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he was responsible for his actions.

Police were alerted to the attack on the American, a teacher in his 50s at an American school in the coastal city of Alexandria, by his wife's screams, witnesses said. MENA said he suffered a superficial wound to his face, and that two Egyptians were also wounded when they tried to stop the attack.

The government, an ally of Washington, has faced heightened domestic discontent in recent months over its enforcement of an Israeli blockade on Hamas-run Gaza, especially during the Israeli offensive that ended on Jan. 18.

Islamic militants have hit Egypt's tourist industry in recent years through bomb and shooting attacks, though there had been a lull since 2006. Such attacks embarrass the government, which tries to project an image of security and stability.

A bomb placed under a bench in a crowded square near where Friday's stabbing took place killed a French teenager on Sunday and wounded at least 24 other people.

That blast, for which there was no immediate claim of responsibility, was the first fatal attack on tourists in Egypt since bombs killed at least 23 people at an Egyptian resort in the Sinai peninsula in 2006.