Belgium warns against travel to Sharm el-Sheikh over `serious threat`

USPA News - The Belgium government on Friday warned its citizens against traveling to the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh over a `serious threat,` just a day after the Dutch and German authorities issued similar warnings due to the threat of terrorist attacks. Belgium had previously warned tourists against going to the Gulf of Aqaba and Friday`s warning therefore encompasses the entire Sinai region.

"Due to a serious threat and after consultations with The Netherlands and Germany, all travel to Sharm el-Sheikh is discouraged," Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said. Reynders gave no details about the nature of the threat, or if any new information had been received that would put tourists at risk, but it came less than a day after Dutch and German authorities issued similar warnings and tour operators began evacuating hundreds of holidaymakers. "The violence in Sinai has escalated in recent months and there is a realistic threat of terrorist attacks," the Dutch Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. "Dutch nationals who are currently in Sharm el-Sheikh or one of the other resorts in Sinai are advised to leave the region and contact their tour operator." Earlier this month, three South Korean tourists and an Egyptian driver were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a bus carrying South Korean churchgoers at a border crossing near the town of Taba on the Sinai Peninsula. The region`s Islamist militant group Ansar Bait al-Maqdis claimed responsibility.