Post by LSDeep on Apr 25, 2006 7:56:27 GMT -5
Terrorism expert predicts more attacks in Sinai region
Tuesday, April 25, 2006;
(CNN) -- 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. (Watch a tourist town littered by bomb debris -- 1:15)
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.
The blasts took place about 7:15 p.m. (1:15 p.m. ET) at two cafeterias and a supermarket.
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006;
(CNN) -- 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. (Watch a tourist town littered by bomb debris -- 1:15)
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.
The blasts took place about 7:15 p.m. (1:15 p.m. ET) at two cafeterias and a supermarket.
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.
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.