Ahmed Hatem and Nour Youssef

Associated Press

HURGHADA, Egypt - Two Austrians and a Swede who were stabbed in an attack on a hotel in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Hurghada were only lightly wounded and in stable condition on Saturday, an Egyptian hospital official said.

The official, who requested anonymity in line with regulations, identified the victims as Renata and Wilhelm Weisslein, both 72, and Sammie Olovsson, 27. The official said they suffered shallow wounds.

Two suspected militants attacked the three at a hotel in Hurghada late Friday. Security forces shot both attackers, killing one and wounding the other before arresting him.

It was the second hotel attack in as many days. An Islamic State affiliate claimed an attack Thursday on a hotel in Cairo near the Pyramids that did not wound anyone. An Interior Ministry statement says two Egyptian police officers were also shot and killed on their way to work Saturday in the Giza district. It says police have been deployed to the scene to investigate the shooting and search for suspects.

Egypt has for years been battling a Sinai-based insurgency, which has grown in strength since the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

A Sinai-based Islamic State affiliate has claimed a number of attacks across the country.

The Interior Ministry said that in the Hurghada attack, two men armed with knives and pellet guns attacked the tourists in the restaurant at the front of the seaside, four-star Bella Vista Hotel.

Jan-Eric Olovsson, the 64-year-old father of the Swedish victim, told the Swedish Expressen newspaper that they were having dinner in the restaurant when the attackers stormed in.

“Everything went really fast. We sat there and ate and then they showed up,” he said. “I thought they came from outside. I myself had the gun pointed at me three times, and Sammie was stabbed with the knife.”

He said his son was stabbed four times in the neck but “did well” because of his physical strength. “I told him to lie still,” he said, recalling how his son lay in a pool of blood. “I got up a few times and when I saw it was clear, I ran out on the street and tried to get hold of an ambulance.”

He said another woman who was eating in the restaurant was also wounded.

Shortly after the attack, Sammie updated his Facebook profile, saying he was “lucky” to have deflected the knife when the attacker tried to stab him in the chest. He said the knife cut some muscles in his neck but no arteries or nerves, and that he would be able to leave the hospital Saturday.

The other victims were also stable enough to be discharged on Saturday, Nile Hospital Chairman Reda el-Naggar told The Associated Press.

Egypt has been struggling to revive its tourism industry after years of unrest stemming from the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The apparent bombing of a Russian passenger plane over Sinai last year, claimed by the IS group, led to widespread flight cancellations, dealing a major blow to the industry, which is one of the country’s main earners.

The Olovssons’ trip was organized by one of Sweden’s largest tour operators, Apollo. The company’s head Peter Browall said guests were given the option of relocating after the attack.

“Some have decided to do so. Not all have. This is done based on individual dialogues we have with them,” he told the Associated Press.

Hurghada is “a small destination for Apollo Sweden,” Browall said. He wasn’t able to provide any figures, but said interest in Egypt had dropped following recent attacks.

Police carrying walkie-talkies stood outside the hotel on Saturday as journalists set up cameras on the sidewalk.

Zainab Feili, a young Swede who survived Friday’s ordeal unharmed, described a scene of chaos. “Everybody just ran… We hear shoot. Everybody cries. It was awful,” she said.

“We saw a dead man on the floor. He was half naked… The other man next to him screamed of pains but nobody did anything. We have been so shocked,” said German tourist Barbara Wolf, who was dining in the restaurant at the time of the assault.

“They took their clothes off to make sure they were not hiding explosive belts underneath them,” said Mohammed Beram, a retired military officer living nearby, who rushed to the scene to offer help. He said the attacker who was killed was wearing an explosives vest.