Deadly blasts at Sinai resort town coincide with busy holiday

CAIRO, Egypt — At least 23 people died Monday when three bombs ripped the Red Sea resort town of Dahab, the third attack on a tourist destination on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula in the past 18 months. Monday's bombings occurred on a spring holiday when millions of Egyptians flock outdoors for picnics and when beaches are full day and night.

Hotels and guesthouses were filled with foreigners and with Egyptians celebrating the long Coptic Christian Easter weekend that coincided this year with Shem al-Nessim, the ancient holiday marking the first day of spring.

Initial reports from the Interior Ministry said the blasts hit two cafeterias and a supermarket. An employee of the Mirage Hotel in Dahab identified one of the targets as the Tota discotheque, which is located near an open-air bazaar. He said the other blast sites were the Al Capone cafeteria and the Dhazala supermarket, both located near a boardwalk along the sea.

Ihab Tamoum, who belongs to the South Sinai Association for Diving and Marine Activities, a nongovernmental organization that promotes the protection of the environment, said the boardwalk was crowded at 7:15 p.m. when the blasts occurred. "People were picking up the wounded and dead and even limbs blown off and carrying them to streets where cars and ambulances could reach them," he said.

He said that Dahab hospital possessed only two ambulances and that several from Sharm el-Sheikh, a resort about 50 miles south, rushed to the stricken town.

Egyptian government spokesman Magdy Rady characterized the explosive devices as "primitive" time bombs and said most of the injured were hit by flying glass. "There was no indication of a threat to security" in the Sinai this weekend, he said.

There were conflicting casualty numbers in the initial confusion following the blasts. About midnight, Mohamed Hani Metwalli, governor of South Sinai province, told state television that the death toll stood at 22. Officials from the Interior Ministry said 23 people were killed and 62 were wounded, according to the Reuters news service and The Associated Press.

The Interior Ministry said the wounded included 42 Egyptians and 17 foreigners — including three Americans — while police put the number of wounded at more than 150. The discrepancies could not be explained.

Eyewitness reports said that as many as 20 ambulances raced to Dahab from Sharm el-Sheikh and that the number of wounded exceeded 100. Rady said four of the dead were foreigners. The most seriously wounded were evacuated to Sharm el-Sheikh, he said.

"A few people wandered the streets looking for friends, but mostly, the streets were empty after the blast," said Jennifer Lippold, a German national who lives near Dahab.

In Washington, President Bush condemned the explosions as "a heinous act against innocent civilians."

The previous attacks in the Sinai took place in the resort of Taba, near the Israeli border, where 34 people were killed in October 2004, and in Sharm el-Sheikh, where 64 people died in July 2005. Egyptian authorities said those attacks were the work of an Islamic group based in the mountains and northern Sinai coast and had no connection with outside organizations. Massive roundups of suspects followed each bombing.

There was no assertion of responsibility for the Dahab killings. Egypt has been a special target of criticism from Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian who is a top aide of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The explosions also followed by a day an audiotape from bin Laden, broadcast on Al-Jazeera satellite television, that called the American people responsible, along with the U.S. government, for making war on Muslims.

Four days ago, the Egyptian government announced the arrest of 22 members of a group called Taifa al-Mansoura, which means the Victorious Group, for threatening violent acts. "Information, documents and interviews with the group members confirmed that they were preparing to carry out terrorist operations against tourist targets, the gas pipeline on the Greater Cairo ring road and some sensitive sites," said a statement from the Interior Ministry. "They were also preparing to target some Muslim and Christian religious figures and ... what they described as 'degenerate youth' in tourist areas."

Prosecutors charged the members with downloading instructions from the Internet on how to make explosives and poison. The group was previously unknown in Egypt, but the name matches a resistance organization in Iraq.

The Sinai Peninsula is popular with foreign and Egyptian backpackers seeking the rustic surroundings of desert life and diving in the coral reefs that lie close offshore. Egyptian officials said that roadblocks have been set up around Dahab.

Tourism earns Egypt more than $6 billion in foreign exchange yearly, and Egyptian officials regarded the earlier Sinai attacks as indirect means of targeting Mubarak's 25-year rule. The Mubarak government invested heavily in developing the Sinai's Red Sea coast.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.