Cairo: Egyptian security officials say they have arrested three people following deadly bombings at a Red Sea resort town, while a terrorism expert has depicted more attacks in the region.
It is still unclear whether Monday's explosions, which killed at least 23 people -- were caused by suicide bombers or bombs on timers, the security officials said.
Another 62 people were wounded in the three blasts in the town of Dahab, a popular vacation spot for Israelis and Egyptians, as well as Westerners.
It was the third terror strike on a Sinai resort in less than two years.
An Israeli official predicted the Sinai would continue to be a target for Islamic extremists, The Associated Press reported.
"The coast combines all the elements that are a target, especially for global jihad," Gen. Elkana Har Nof, an official at the Israel prime minister's counterterrorism department, told Israel Radio.
Egyptian police on Tuesday were sifting through the debris from the three explosions. Divers were also being used to retrieve body parts from the shallow waters of the sea.
Interior Minister Habib al-Adly said the dead included 20 Egyptians and three foreigners -- a German child and two victims of unknown nationality.
Forty-two of the wounded are Egyptian, including three members of the police.
Twenty of the foreigners wounded include three Danes, three Britons, two Italians, two Germans and one each from the United States, France, Korea, Lebanon, Israel and Australia, the minister said. The nationalities of the other victims were not specified.
Video of the site hours later showed damaged buildings, with sidewalks outside tourist shops and restaurants covered in blood and shattered glass.
The resort town was crowded with tourists because of the Easter holiday observed Sunday by the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, as well as other orthodox churches.
"There were body parts and debris in the street. There are ambulances and cars taking people to hospital," one witness, who refused to be identified, told the Reuters news agency.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called the explosions "a wicked terrorist attack." He vowed to punish those responsible for the blasts and expressed his condolences to victims' family members, Nile Television said.
In July, 67 people were killed and more than 200 others wounded in Sharm el-Sheikh. Egyptian officials believe Bedouin residents of Sinai with connections to al-Qaeda were responsible for those incidents.
PAGE_BREAK
In October 2004, 34 people were killed in attacks on the Sinai resorts of Taba and Ras al Sultan.
Each of those attacks also involved three explosions.
Israeli ambulance services, meanwhile, beefed up their presence on the border with Egypt, and a hospital in Eilat was getting extra blood supplies, officials said. Israeli medical services offered help to Egypt.
Chorus of condemnation
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas released a statement condemning the terrorist act as "cowardly and criminal" and offering his condolences to Mubarak and the Egyptian people.
Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister-designate, called Mubarak to offer his condolences and those of Israelis. The two leaders discussed the need to work together to fight terrorism, according to Olmert's office.
Israel shares a border with the Sinai Peninsula.
In Amman, Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Judeh joined the chorus of condemnation, calling the acts "another tragic and horrific example for the need to have a collective effort of the international community to combat terrorism."
US President George W Bush, at a fundraiser for Rep. Jon Porter in Las Vegas, Nevada, said, "I strongly condemn the killings that took place."
"The innocent life lost in Egypt is a heinous act against innocent civilians," Bush said.
"I assure the enemy this: We will stay on the offense," he said. "We will not waiver."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a written statement that US officials "have been in contact with the Egyptian government to extend our condolences and to offer whatever assistance they may need."
The explosions Monday came one day after an audiotape believed to be from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden denounced a "crusader-Zionist war" against Islam and held Western citizens - not just their governments - responsible.
Comments
0 comment