CAIRO, April 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Egyptian Minister of Tourism Ahmed al-Maghrabi said that police are working hard to determine the cause of the blast that rocked an market in Cairo's Old City late Thursday, the official MENA news agency reported here Friday.

Egyptian policemen secure the site of a bomb blast in the Al-Azhar area of Cairo. (Xinhua/AFP)

   Al-Maghrabi told reporters that "incidents like this could turn out to be acts of one individual."

   He downplayed the significance of the explosion, saying that people, especially foreign tourists, should not be scared away from this country.

   Meanwhile, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazef and Minister of Health and Population Mohammed Awad Afifi Tag Eddin on Friday morning visited Al-Hussein hospital, where people wounded in the blast were treated.

   The explosion took place at around 5:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Thursday in an open-air market close to al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, one of the most revered shrines in the Sunni Muslim world.

   Officials said Friday the death toll of the blast rosed to three, including a Frenchwoman and a US national. The third victim has not yet been identified, they added, though some media reports said the third dead was the bomber himself.

   No group have claimed responsibility for the blast so far. Enditem