49 accused of attacks on tourists

CAIRO (Reuter) - Muslim militants charged with attacks on foreigners that have devastated Egypt's tourist industry went on trial yesterday, shouting warnings of more violence.

Forty-three defendants were handcuffed in pairs and hustled into cages in the military court, a converted theatre on an armed forces base in the desert outside Cairo. Another six were being tried in their absence.

One of the accused shouted out a defiant history of the radical Islamic organisation they are accused of supporting. Hisham Abdel-Zaher shouted that the group was led by a blind preacher in exile in the US, Omar Abdel-Rahman, two of whose alleged followers were arrested after last month's bombing of New York's World Trade Center.