http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/603642.html
Egyptians attending the scene of a series of attacks in Sharm el-Sheikh
on Saturday. (Reuters)
Last update - 12:32 23/07/2005
At least 65 dead in blasts in Egyptian Red Sea resorts
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies
Three car bombs exploded in quick succession in the Red Sea resort
of Sharm el-Sheikh early Saturday, ripping through a hotel and a coffeeshop
packed with European and Egyptian tourists. Minister Mohammed Awad Tag Eddin
said at least 65 people died in the deadliest attack in Egypt in nearly a
decade.
Shaken European tourists spoke of mass panic and hysteria as people
fled the carnage in the early hours, with bodies strewn across the roads,
people screaming and sirens wailing.
Egyptian Interior Minister Habib el-Adli earlier said 119 people
were wounded and that at least eight foreigners were among the dead. Officials
said that the victims included British, Russian, Dutch, Kuwaitis, Saudis,
Qataris and Egyptians.
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"Many of the injuries are very serious and they are in critical
condition," said a doctor at Sharm el-Sheikh International Hospital, who asked
not to be named.
The Foreign Ministry reported one Israeli-Arab woman was lightly
injured in the blasts and was being treated in the International Hospital. She
was later identified as Saneh Hussein from the village of Musmus in Wadi Ara.
Representatives of the Israeli embassy in Cairo were making their
way to the site of the attacks to determine if any other Israeli nationals were
injured in the blasts.
A string of three car bombs
Police said the explosions were caused by three car bombs in Sharm
el-Sheikh and the nearby resort of Naama Bay. One blast went off in the
driveway of the Ghazala Gardens hotel, a 176-room four-star resort on the main
strip of hotels in Naama Bay, said the governor of South Sinai province,
Mustafa Afifi.
El-Adli later said that the bombers had shot dead the security
guard at the entrance to the hotel before detonating the bomb.
The reception hall of the luxury Ghazala Gardens hotel collapsed
into a pancaked pile of concrete, sending terrified guests fleeing for safety,
according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. Rescue workers hours
later said they feared more victims may be buried under the rubble.
A second car bomb exploded in a parking area near the Movenpick
Hotel, also in Naama Bay, said a receptionist there who declined to identify
himself.
The third detonated at a mini-bus parking lot in the Old Market, an
area about four kilometers away, killing 17 people. A security official in the
Cairo operations control room monitoring the crisis said he believed most of
these casualties were Egyptians sitting at a nearby outdoor coffee shop.
Three minibuses were set ablaze, though it was not clear if they
were carrying passengers, the official said.
"The [Ghazala] hotel was completely burned down, destroyed," said
Amal Mustafa, 28, an Egyptian who was visiting Sharm with her family and who
drove by the Ghazala Gardens.
Naama Bay has dozens of luxury hotels popular with divers and
holidaymakers from Europe.
Khaled Sakran, a Sharm resident, said he saw the first blast from
the Old Market. "I saw the saw the fire in the sky," he said. "Right after, I
saw a light in the sky and heard another explosion, coming from Naama Bay."
Although the explosions took place after 1 A.M., the bazaars would
have been busy with holidaymakers at this time of year because the daytime is
so hot, residents said. Ahmed Fawzi, an Egyptian lawyer visiting Naama Bay on
business, told Reuters that one of the explosions ripped the door of his office
off its hinges. A resident living 10 km from Sharm el-Sheikh said the
explosions had shaken the windows of his house.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has a holiday villa in the Golf
Hotel, close to the Moevenpick.
Al-Qaida-linked group claims responsibility
A group citing ties to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for
Saturday's Sharm el-Sheikh bombings that killed at least 62 people, according
to a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.
The group, calling itself the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, al-Qaida, in
Syria and Egypt, said that its "holy warriors targeted the Ghazala Gardens
hotel and the Old Market in Sharm el-Sheikh."
The authenticity of the statement could not be immediately verified.
The brigades were one of two Islamist groups that claimed
responsibility for the October 7 bombings at Sinai Peninsula Taba and Ras
Shitan that killed 34 people.
"Your brothers, the holy warriors of the martyr Abdullah Azzam
Brigades succeeded in launching a smashing attack on the Crusaders, Zionists
and the renegade Egyptian regime in Sharm el-Sheikh," said the statement.
"We reaffirm that this operation was in response to the crimes
committed by the forces of international evil, which are spilling the blood of
Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechny."
"We declare it loud and clear that we will not be frightened by the
whips of the Egyptian torturers and we will not tolerate violation of our
brothers' land of Sinai," the statement added in an apparent reference to
tourists who travel from neighboring Israel to Sinai Peninsula for holidays.
Interior Minister el-Adli had earlier on pinned the attack on
Islamic militants. "This is an ugly act of terrorism," el-Adli said in a
statement carried on the government news agency. "It has nothing to do with
Islam, they are only acting under the slogan of Islam.
Egyptian Tourism Minister Ahmed el-Maghrabi told Egyptian
television "What happened early this morning is rejected by all people. These
criminal gangs will not be able to prevent people from travelling and moving."
He added "There is no doubt that these incidents will have an
effect in the short term [on tourism]."
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem has set up an emergency situation
room, which is in contact with the embassy in Cairo in an effort to establish
if any Israelis are among the casualties. The situation room has been inundated
with calls from concerned Israelis who have family members in Sinai.
The Sinai Red Sea resorts are popular among Israeli tourists,
although many prefer to spend their holidays in the northern resorts, closer to
the border with Israel. Taba border crossing officials reported that Israelis
continued crossing into Sinai during the night.
Click here for a chronology of attacks on tourist targets in Egypt.
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