VARIOUS: Triple bombing in Egypt, kills 18 people and wounds 83

Record ID: 357997

  • Title: VARIOUS: Triple bombing in Egypt, kills 18 people and wounds 83
  • Date: 26th April 2006
  • Summary: EGYPT FLAG BORDER CROSSING
  • Embargoed: 11th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA7GOD7E3GHKVND3AGL7C7DDPCR
  • Story Text: Defiant holidaymakers described scenes of carnage in Egypt's Sinai resort of Dahab on Tuesday after three bombs killed at least 18 people in the latest attack on the country's vital tourist industry.
    The Egyptian Interior Ministry said the targets in Dahab were a restaurant, a cafe and a supermarket in the resort, which lies 80 km (50 miles) north of Sharm el-Sheikh.
    A security source said 10 people, all of them Egyptians, had been detained in connection with Monday's bombings, but gave no details on what their involvement may have been or if they were connected to a specific group.
    Despite the attacks, which also wounded around over 80 people, most tourists said they planned to stay on in Dahab, a popular resort for diving, especially among backpackers.
    Egypt's tourism industry generates more than $7 billion a year and employs around 10 percent of the workforce, making it an economic linchpin. About 100 Egyptians and foreigners marched through Dahab on Tuesday chanting: "We love everyone" in an apparent effort to rally support for the industry.
    Trails of blood remained on a long stretch of Dahab's beach promenade, which is lined with restaurants and souvenir shops. In other places, shopkeepers washed away bloodstains with salt and water and attempted to go back to business.
    Security officials said the explosions were probably caused by bombs attached to timers rather than suicide bombers.
    There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, which bore the hallmarks of previous coordinated blasts in the region by local militants.
    A little-known, Sinai-based group is believed to have carried out two other, similar-style attacks on Egypt's Red Sea coast in the last two years, killing around 100 people -- one in the resort of Taba and another at Sharm el-Sheikh.
    Security experts downplay possible links to external militant groups such as al Qaeda but say they may serve as inspiration for the local attackers.
    Egypt's Interior Ministry said a German child was killed in the blasts, along with two other foreigners and 20 Egyptians. Some of the wounded were flown to Cairo for treatment.
    Despite the carnage, Europe's two largest tourism firms, TUI <TUIGn.DE> and Thomas Cook <LHAG.DE><KARG.DE>, said just four customers wanted to cut short their holidays in the region.
    About 100 Egyptians and foreigners, including Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, marched through Dahab on Tuesday chanting: "We love everyone", an effort to rally support for Egypt's vital tourism industry.
    Security officials said the bombs were primitive and looked home-made. The injured included about 40 Egyptians, three Danes, three Britons, two Italians, two Germans, two French people, a South Korean, a Lebanese, a Palestinian, an American, an Israeli and an Australian, the Interior Ministry said.
    It was the third set of attacks in Sinai since October 2004, when a group bombed the Hilton hotel in the Taba resort, close to the Israeli border, and two beach camps, killing 34.
    That attack preceded another at the southern Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in July 2005, which killed more than 60 people.
    In each case, three bombs went off within minutes of each other on the evening of a holiday. In some cases the bombers used trucks, in others they left explosives in suitcases.
    Egyptian authorities say the Sinai group was founded by a man of Palestinian origin who grew up in the north Sinai town of El Arish and adopted the views of militant Islamists.
    They say the group has no known links with foreign organisations such as the al Qaeda group of Osama bin Laden.
    The alleged founder, Iyad Said Saleh, died in the bombing at the Taba Hilton, apparently because he set the timer of his bomb wrongly, Egyptian police said at the time.
    Some injured were taken to the Nasser's Insitute, one of the biggest hospitals in Cairo.
    Yehia Abdel Salam was relieved his two sons were still alive. "One of my sons works in Sharm El sheikh as a tour guide and went to visit his brother in Dahab, said the father of Tarek and Hany.
    "They had lunch in the cafe and when they went out the bomb exploded. As soon as stepped out one of them was injured and he was bleeding. His brother was also wounded but was able to pull him away from the fire," he added.
    Israel warned of a kidnap threat against its citizens as tourists who fled Dahab crossed the Egyptian border on Tuesday (April 25).
    A group of three girls was eating in the restaurant when disaster struck. Hadas Braytman, a 19 year-old Israeli, described their ordeal.
    "We have heard the bombs, the first one was on the bridge, the second one was in a hotel and the third one was right next to us. And with the third hit, all the glass shattered and everyone flew all over the place and we got under the table and we stayed there for two minutes. We were screaming, we ran out of there. I came back to the hotel but everybody was dead, so we just walked to the other direction."
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