The Egyptian Muslim militant group that claimed responsibility for the massacre last month of 60 foreign tourists said it would no longer target tourists as a way to weaken the government.

"The Gamaa Al Islamiya has decided to stop targeting either the tourism industry or foreign tourists," the group said in a statement made available to Reuters on 8 December.

"The Gamaa has taken this decision out of a sense of responsibility because it refuses to take advantage or use such a rejected incident in the framework of our war with the Egyptian regime," the group said.

The next day, however, the group denied that it had issued a statement vowing to halt attacks on the country's tourism industry.

"The Gamaa confirms that it has not issued that statement and has nothing to do with it," the group said in a statement faxed to Reuters on 9 December.

The Gamaa initially said its own investigation into the attack showed that young members had acted on their own, a sign that the group seemed to lack a central authority and had fragmented into smaller, more violent elements.

"It has become clear that the perpetrators of the Luxor incident are young and new members of the Gamaa. They were not assigned to carry out any work connected to tourism," the statement said.

"Exiled Gamaa leaders were surprised by what happened at Luxor and were shocked by the large number of victims and the mutilation of some of the dead, which violates the principles of legitimacy, humanity and politics of the Gamaa in Egypt."

Ninety-two tourists have been killed in 25 attacks since 1992, many of which were claimed by the Gamaa as a way to damage the lucrative tourism industry.

The group said a statement issued in the name of the Gamaa shortly after the Luxor attack was not genuine.

A Gamaa statement made available to Reuters after the mass killings had said 15 members had intended to take tourists hostage in Luxor as a way to secure the release of Gamaa spiritual leader Omar Abdel Rahman from a US jail.

"This proves the falseness [of the statement], seeing as the perpetrators were just six and they all died in confrontation with the police," the group said in the latest statement.

"Gamaa leaders abroad were not able to take the initiative to deny this statement because they could not contact brother Mustafa Hamza, who is in charge of the Gamaa military wing," it added.

Hamza, 39, is one of Egypt's most wanted fugitive militants.

"When he [Hamza] was contacted on Friday, he condemned what happened in Luxor... He thought his brothers [the exiled leaders] had issued the statement claiming responsibility.

"This affirms none of those responsible for the Gamaa Al Islamiya had any idea of this incident before it happened," the group said.

The Gamaa said it would take measures in the future to prevent such a gap between exiled leaders and members in Egypt.

"Because of the conflicting responsibilities that appear to have led to this rift, recommendations have been issued to prevent such mistakes, which result from the security, administrative and technical circumstances surrounding [our] work.

"Responsibilities have been identified so as to avoid such shortcomings in the future, God willing," the Gamaa said.