Dahab blasts pinned on suicide bombers :Egypt News
At least two of the three deadly blasts that ripped through the Egyptian tourist resort of Dahab were caused by suicide bombers, security sources said on Tuesday.
"There were at least two suicide bombers involved in the attacks," an official said on condition of anonymity.
At least 23 people were killed in the triple bombings on Monday, the third such attack to strike tourist resorts in the Sinai peninsula in 18 months, according to the interior ministry.
Egyptian state television had initially ruled out suicide bombings and said the explosions were caused by remote-detonated devices.
It was too soon to tell whether any South Africans were killed or wounded in the blasts, the Foreign Affairs Department said on Tuesday.
"It's quite early in the day for us to be able to say," said spokesperson Nomfanelo Kota said shortly after 7am.
"We'll have a better idea when the SA consulate in Egypt is open."
The three explosions, which happened at around 7.15pm local time (5.15pm GMT), left the streets littered with body parts, glass and debris, and smoke billowing over the tourist bazaar.
Reports suggested bombs were detonated at two restaurants and a third at a supermarket in the coastal town. Ambulance workers said many of the dead were foreigners. Other rescue workers said they counted up to 30 dead.
An interior ministry statement said there were 23 dead, including a German boy and two unidentified foreigners. Those wounded included 20 foreigners, among them three Britons, two Italians, two Germans, two French people, three Danes, a South Korean, a Lebanese, a Palestinian, an American, an Israeli and an Australian.
The bombings came a day after the broadcast of a tape by Osama bin Laden in which the al-Qaeda leader appeared to justify attacks on western civilians.
Joseph Nazir, who owns a safari company in Dahab, said one of the blasts had destroyed the Al Capone restaurant, one of the busiest in the town. "There is nothing there," he said. "The tables and chairs have gone, there is nothing left."
He said the explosion had covered an area of around 100 square metres and that many Egyptian holidaymakers had been in the area. "Everybody is panicking, a lot of people are crying," he said.
Dr Said Essa, who runs Egypt's Sinai Peninsula rescue squad, said he believed at least 18 people were killed and at least 150 wounded in an explosion at the el-Khaleeg hotel in the el-Masbat section of the town.
The interior ministry said that the three explosions occurred at the Nelson restaurant, Aladdin cafe and one at Ghazala supermarket.
Britain's Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, said the attacks were carried out by "callous" terrorists who attacked a popular holiday resort on an Egyptian public holiday, he said. "Once again terrorists have demonstrated their callous disregard for human life."
United States President George Bush condemned the blasts as a "heinous act against innocent civilians". Bush, seeming to equate the perpetrators of the attacks in Dahab, on the Sinai peninsula, with al-Qaeda militants who carried out the September 11 attacks in the United States, said: "Today, we saw again that the terrorists are willing to try to define the world the way they want to see it. I strongly condemn the killings that took place." Bush, who was addressing a political fundraiser in Las Vegas, added: "The innocent life lost in Egypt is a heinous act against innocent civilians."
After offering condolences to the victims' families, Bush said: "And I assure the enemy this: we will stay on the offence. We will not waver. We will not tire. We will bring you to justice for the sake of peace and humanity."
Egypt's President, Hosni Mubarak, whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism, said the blasts were a "sinful terrorist action".
Paul McBeath, a British tourist who witnessed the blasts, said there had been no warning before the bombs ripped through the town. "There were just three loud bangs and people rushing around," he told Sky News. "Everybody is shaken."
One resident, who did not wish to be named, said: "There were body parts and debris in the street. There are ambulances and cars taking people to hospital."
Rene Overgaard, a shipping executive from Cairo who had travelled to Dahab for a long weekend, said he believed the blasts had been well planned and well coordinated. "There were three explosions very close together, near the water fountain close to the Ghazala supermarket," he said. "This was incredibly well coordinated. They went off within seconds of each other."
Dahab, which is on the Gulf of Aqaba on the eastern side of the Sinai peninsula, is in its high tourist season, with hotels all along the coast at near capacity, mainly filled with Europeans, Israelis and expatriates living in Egypt.
Terrorist attacks have killed nearly 100 people at several tourist resorts in the Sinai region in the past two years. Bombings in the resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan, near the Israeli border, killed 34 people in October 2004. Suicide attackers in July in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh killed at least 64 people, mainly tourists.
The Egyptian government has said those who carried out those bombings were locals without international connections, but other security agencies have said they suspect al-Qaeda.
Israel's rescue service said it had raised the alert level. The country's Channel 10 TV reported that Israel had closed the border crossing at Taba, preventing vehicles from entering Sinai. It said a stream of Israeli vehicles was leaving Sinai, where many Israelis go for beach holidays.
Israel's ambassador in Cairo, Shalom Cohen, told Channel 10 that he did not know if any Israelis had been killed. He advised any Israeli tourists in the area to go home. He said the Israeli government had repeatedly warned against visiting the Sinai desert, where Israelis have been targeted in the past. "Unfortunately, the warnings came true," he said.
The Israeli rescue service, Magen David Adom, offered help through the International Red Cross and the Egyptian Red Crescent but has not received a reply, the service said in a statement. It said about 20 ambulances were standing by at the Taba crossing between Israel and Egypt.
On Sunday, the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television station broadcast a new audio tape in which Bin Laden seemed to urge his followers to open a new front in al-Qaeda's war against the west. A voice sounding like the al-Qaeda leader's said the western public shared responsibility for the deeds of their governments, and for what he described as "a continuous crusader-Zionist war on Islam". - Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006, Sapa
"There were at least two suicide bombers involved in the attacks," an official said on condition of anonymity.
At least 23 people were killed in the triple bombings on Monday, the third such attack to strike tourist resorts in the Sinai peninsula in 18 months, according to the interior ministry.
Egyptian state television had initially ruled out suicide bombings and said the explosions were caused by remote-detonated devices.
It was too soon to tell whether any South Africans were killed or wounded in the blasts, the Foreign Affairs Department said on Tuesday.
"It's quite early in the day for us to be able to say," said spokesperson Nomfanelo Kota said shortly after 7am.
"We'll have a better idea when the SA consulate in Egypt is open."
The three explosions, which happened at around 7.15pm local time (5.15pm GMT), left the streets littered with body parts, glass and debris, and smoke billowing over the tourist bazaar.
Reports suggested bombs were detonated at two restaurants and a third at a supermarket in the coastal town. Ambulance workers said many of the dead were foreigners. Other rescue workers said they counted up to 30 dead.
An interior ministry statement said there were 23 dead, including a German boy and two unidentified foreigners. Those wounded included 20 foreigners, among them three Britons, two Italians, two Germans, two French people, three Danes, a South Korean, a Lebanese, a Palestinian, an American, an Israeli and an Australian.
The bombings came a day after the broadcast of a tape by Osama bin Laden in which the al-Qaeda leader appeared to justify attacks on western civilians.
Joseph Nazir, who owns a safari company in Dahab, said one of the blasts had destroyed the Al Capone restaurant, one of the busiest in the town. "There is nothing there," he said. "The tables and chairs have gone, there is nothing left."
He said the explosion had covered an area of around 100 square metres and that many Egyptian holidaymakers had been in the area. "Everybody is panicking, a lot of people are crying," he said.
Dr Said Essa, who runs Egypt's Sinai Peninsula rescue squad, said he believed at least 18 people were killed and at least 150 wounded in an explosion at the el-Khaleeg hotel in the el-Masbat section of the town.
The interior ministry said that the three explosions occurred at the Nelson restaurant, Aladdin cafe and one at Ghazala supermarket.
Britain's Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, said the attacks were carried out by "callous" terrorists who attacked a popular holiday resort on an Egyptian public holiday, he said. "Once again terrorists have demonstrated their callous disregard for human life."
United States President George Bush condemned the blasts as a "heinous act against innocent civilians". Bush, seeming to equate the perpetrators of the attacks in Dahab, on the Sinai peninsula, with al-Qaeda militants who carried out the September 11 attacks in the United States, said: "Today, we saw again that the terrorists are willing to try to define the world the way they want to see it. I strongly condemn the killings that took place." Bush, who was addressing a political fundraiser in Las Vegas, added: "The innocent life lost in Egypt is a heinous act against innocent civilians."
After offering condolences to the victims' families, Bush said: "And I assure the enemy this: we will stay on the offence. We will not waver. We will not tire. We will bring you to justice for the sake of peace and humanity."
Egypt's President, Hosni Mubarak, whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism, said the blasts were a "sinful terrorist action".
Paul McBeath, a British tourist who witnessed the blasts, said there had been no warning before the bombs ripped through the town. "There were just three loud bangs and people rushing around," he told Sky News. "Everybody is shaken."
One resident, who did not wish to be named, said: "There were body parts and debris in the street. There are ambulances and cars taking people to hospital."
Rene Overgaard, a shipping executive from Cairo who had travelled to Dahab for a long weekend, said he believed the blasts had been well planned and well coordinated. "There were three explosions very close together, near the water fountain close to the Ghazala supermarket," he said. "This was incredibly well coordinated. They went off within seconds of each other."
Dahab, which is on the Gulf of Aqaba on the eastern side of the Sinai peninsula, is in its high tourist season, with hotels all along the coast at near capacity, mainly filled with Europeans, Israelis and expatriates living in Egypt.
Terrorist attacks have killed nearly 100 people at several tourist resorts in the Sinai region in the past two years. Bombings in the resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan, near the Israeli border, killed 34 people in October 2004. Suicide attackers in July in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh killed at least 64 people, mainly tourists.
The Egyptian government has said those who carried out those bombings were locals without international connections, but other security agencies have said they suspect al-Qaeda.
Israel's rescue service said it had raised the alert level. The country's Channel 10 TV reported that Israel had closed the border crossing at Taba, preventing vehicles from entering Sinai. It said a stream of Israeli vehicles was leaving Sinai, where many Israelis go for beach holidays.
Israel's ambassador in Cairo, Shalom Cohen, told Channel 10 that he did not know if any Israelis had been killed. He advised any Israeli tourists in the area to go home. He said the Israeli government had repeatedly warned against visiting the Sinai desert, where Israelis have been targeted in the past. "Unfortunately, the warnings came true," he said.
The Israeli rescue service, Magen David Adom, offered help through the International Red Cross and the Egyptian Red Crescent but has not received a reply, the service said in a statement. It said about 20 ambulances were standing by at the Taba crossing between Israel and Egypt.
On Sunday, the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television station broadcast a new audio tape in which Bin Laden seemed to urge his followers to open a new front in al-Qaeda's war against the west. A voice sounding like the al-Qaeda leader's said the western public shared responsibility for the deeds of their governments, and for what he described as "a continuous crusader-Zionist war on Islam". - Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006, Sapa
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