Video grab from Egyptian television shows people walking among body bags inside an ambulance after a blast in Sharm El- Sheikh. (Reuters)
CAIRO, July 23, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – At least 65 people were killed, including eight foreigners, and 200 others were wounded in a string of bomb attacks that rocked the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh early on Saturday, July 23, medics and officials said.
Medical sources in the tourist resort told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the death toll had risen to 65 after Health Minister Mohammed Awad Tajeddin gave a figure of 62.
"Until now, the number of killed has reached 62 and 110 wounded have been brought to the hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh," Tajeddin told the official MENA news agency earlier.
"It is possible that the death toll will rise," he added.
Speaking from the devastated tourist resort, lies at the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula, Interior Minister Habib Al-Adly had said moments earlier that the death toll stood at 59.
Among the victims were eight foreigners, he said without specifying their nationalities.
An AFP reporter saw the wreckage caused by three bombings but police sources said up to seven blasts may have rocked the town in quick succession shortly after 1:00 am (2200 GMT Friday).
Witnesses said scenes of panic broke out after the blasts in the glitzy resort known to Egyptians as "the city of peace," where President Hosni Mubarak frequently hosts world leaders and Middle East summits.
"There are lots of bodies covered with blood-stained white sheets around the hotel. Lots of people rushed to the scene to see what was happening but up to 600 policemen are cordoning off the area," resident Hossam Osman, who owns a photo laboratory, told AFP.
The suicide car bombing attacks on the popular Sinai resort at the peak of the tourist season were the deadliest in Egypt in eight years and officials feared the death toll could rise further.
Taba Links
Adly told MENA that Egyptian security services already had leads on who carried out the attacks and added there could be a connection with October bombings that killed 34 people further north in the Sinai peninsula.
"We have indications that could lead security services to those responsible for these terrorist operations," he said.
"These elements suggest that the bombings may be linked to those that took place in Taba".
The October 2004 bombings had targeted the Hilton hotel in Taba -- which lies on the border with Israel at the north of Gulf of Aqaba -- as well as two other resort camps in Nuweiba, further down the coast.
The attacks left at least 34 dead, including several Israelis.
They were the first major attack in Egypt since 58 tourists were killed in an attack on the southern town of Luxor in 1997 and sparked a massive crackdown by government troops in the Sinai.
Anti-terrorist units were rushed to Sharm El-Sheikh and tight security was immediately slapped on the area.
"We have cancelled all holidays and dispatched the bulk of our anti-terrorist units to Sharm. We are at the highest level of alert across the country," a high-ranking security official told AFP.
Hard Hit
Video grab from Egyptian television Egypt TV shows the area after a blast at a hotel in Sharm El- Sheikh. (Reuters)
In the most devastating of the strikes, a suicide bomber rammed his car into the Ghazala Garden hotel.
"A suicide car bomber forced the barrier at the entrance of the hotel. A member of the security staff tried to stop him but he sped towards the reception and there was a huge explosion," a Ghazala hotel employee told AFP.
An AFP reporter said the force of the blast sent debris flying more than 100 meters (yards) from the hotel building, which threatened to collapse.
"There were at least 30 dead in this bombing, most of them Egyptian employees of the hotel because the tourist villas are on the other side of the hotel," a police officer said.
Another bomb went off on a car park a few hundred meters (yards) away from the Ghazala hotel, smashing shop fronts on the busy Qabous street.
An AFP correspondent saw an eviscerated body, apparently belonging to a foreigner, being evacuated by medics. At least five other bodies were still lying in the car park.
The bomb went off near the resort's Hard Rock Cafe and other nightlife spots popular with the tens of thousands of foreign tourists on holidays in Sharm.
A third bomb ripped through a busy market area, killing an undetermined number of people, some of them foreigners.
"The blast took place at the edge of the souk. It was huge. There were still lots of people at terraces and shops were still open," said Ashraf, who owns the nearby restaurant popular with Russian tourists.
"I can't tell how many people were killed but it was a carnage. The panic was immediate and I saw a man die of a heart attack following the blasts," he said.
The attacks dealt a fresh blow to the tourism industry so crucial to Egypt's economy, which was still recovering from the fallout of October 7 bombings on resorts further north that left at least 34 dead, including several Israelis.
Foreigners Killed
The Foreign Office in London said British nationals were killed in the Egyptian attacks.
"Egyptian authorities have sadly confirmed that there are British victims in the Sharm El Sheikh explosions. An emergency team and the ambassador are on their way to Sharm," a spokesman said.
An Italian tourist and his wife were pacing up and down the main stretch of Naama Bay, desperately looking for their 17-year-old son.
Receptionists at nearby hotels told AFP that many guests had warned they would cut their holidays short and small groups of haggard tourists could be seen dragging their luggage among the debris to board buses leaving the resort.
The attacks came on the 53rd anniversary of the 1952 revolution, meaning scores of Egyptians were also on an extended holiday weekend.
Saturday's attacks followed a new terror scare on London's transport system on Friday after a series of bombings on July 7 that killed 52 people plus four bombers.