At Least 65 Killed in Egyptian Resort Bombings

**kadafi** · 07-23-2005

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

pic01A - At Least 65 Killed in Egyptian Resort Bombings

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.

**Ummu Amatullah** · 07-23-2005

An Egyptian security source has put the toll from a series of bombs in Sharm al-Shaikh at 83.

The toll continued to rise throughout Saturday after a cafe and two luxury hotels in the Red Sea resort were attacked in the early hours.

The deaths occurred in two car bomb blasts and another explosion, possibly a third car bomb. A rescue official said at least 136 people were wounded, but that figure could reach 200.

Medical sources have confirmed to Aljazeera the toll may continue to rise as many of the injured are in critical conditions, Samir Omar Aljazeera's correspondent reported.

Foreigners among dead

British people, Dutch, French, Spaniards, Kuwaitis and Egyptians were among the casualties, police sources said, but the vast majority of dead and wounded are Egyptian. Earlier reports had Qataris among the dead, a statement later refuted by the Qatari embassy in Cairo.

Shaken tourists spoke of mass panic and hysteria as people fled bomb after bomb, with bodies strewn across the roads.

Bodies are put in an ambulance
at the scene of the blast

A rescue official said many of the wounded were Egyptian workers who had gathered at a cafe in the old market where the first blast struck. The blasts occurred on what is a national holiday in Egypt, Revolution Day.

He said 17 of the dead were burnt beyond recognition by the explosions.

A team from the Dutch embassy in Cairo was heading to the resort after rumours that Dutch tourists were among the casualties, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said.

Britain announced that some of its nationals were among the dead, and a similar ambassadorial team was being sent to the scene.

After his visit to Sharm al-Shaikh hospital, the British ambassador to Egypt told Aljazeera two British people were transferred to Cairo by helicopter for medical treatment.

Rescue operation

Rescue teams continued searching for survivors and bodies under the debris, Aljazeera correspondent Husayn Abd al-Ghani reported.

The Red Crescent fears some victims are still stuck under the debris, he said.

The Egyptian security authorities have stepped up security measures inside and outside Cairo International airport following the explosions.

"Many of the injuries are very serious and they are in critical condition"

A doctor at Sharm al-Shaikh International Hospital

Israel has offered to send army rescue teams to assist in the clear-up operation, but is not planning to order the repatriation of the 10,000 nationals estimated to be holidaying in the Sinai resorts.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has ended his holiday and arrived at the resort to examine the situation.

Serious injuries

The blasts came within minutes of each other shortly after 1am (2200 GMT), at a time when many tourists were still out in bars and markets in the popular and hitherto safe resort. The blasts appeared to be co-ordinated.

The Ghazala Gardens hotel was
destroyed in the bomb attack

A police source said one bomb appeared to have exploded near the bazaar in Sharm al-Shaikh itself, with at least three more in the luxury hotel strip of Naama Bay about 6km away, popular with divers and holidaymakers from Europe.

A tourist bazaar, the Ghazala Gardens Hotel and the Moevenpick Hotel were the targets there, he said. One witness said a taxi rank was also hit. Earlier reports put the number of explosions at seven.

The Ghazala Gardens hotel was destroyed, as were four cars parked in front of it, by the explosion, Abd al-Ghani reported.

Glass shrapnel was scattered at the explosion site, while the cafe in front of the hotel was also destroyed.

Car bomb

According to South Sinai Governor Mustafa Afifi a car broke into the Ghazala Gardens Hotel's compound and exploded in front of the building, collapsing the reception lobby into a pile of concrete. Egyptian tourist hotels always have police guards at the gates.

"Many of the injuries are very serious and they are in critical condition," said a doctor at Sharm al-Shaikh International Hospital.

"The whole area was quickly covered in debris. There was a huge ball of smoke that mushroomed up, it was mass hysteria"
Charles Ives,
London policeman

Fire and smoke billowed over Sharm al-Shaikh after the first explosion there, one resident said.

Residents said the blasts shook homes 10km away and blew out windows closer to the blasts.

The Muslim Brotherhood Movement issued a statement denouncing the explosions, Aljazeera's correspondent in Egypt reported.

Witness report

Alaa Hasanayn, a member of the Egyptian People's Council and a witness, told Aljazeera: "I saw people flying in the air, others burning, and a car entering the reception hall of the hotel as if it was parking there."

"This can be referred to disagreement of Arab countries' on combating terrorism," he added.

Hasanayn said he believed the explosion was a "terrorist and suicide" operation.

"I'm one of the first people who saw the incident as I was at the hotel at the explosion time," he said.

Israel blamed

"This explosion is not related to Islam or Christianity at all. It is related to Judaism," Hasanayn said.

Some believe Egyptians were a
target of the bomb attacks

He believes that Israel stands behind the explosions.

"I frankly believe that Israel stands behind the operation, as those killed and injured are mostly Arabs, particularly Egyptians," he said.

"The hotel and the market place are frequented by simple Egyptians, not foreigners," he added.

Bomb after bomb

Charlie Ives, a London policeman on holiday after dealing with the aftermath of bombings in the British capital, said he and his wife tried to get away from the scene of a first bomb only to witness a second one four minutes later.

"The whole area was quickly covered in debris. There was a huge ball of smoke that mushroomed up, it was mass hysteria," he told BBC World television.

Tourist Fabio Basone told the BBC the front of one hotel had been completely blown away, with car and shop windows blown out. "People were trying to run in any direction to get away, but were not clear where to go," he said.

**minaz** · 07-23-2005

Posted by Hash
When will the enemies of islaam reliase, for every action there is a reaction.

Lol they won't realise, cuz they blow themselves up, oh well i guess Hellfire is a realisation

**Halima** · 07-23-2005

If they decide to the bombings why would they do it in an Islamic country? This sounds very irrational.

**Bittersteel** · 07-23-2005

Sister, think about it. Who benefits from these so called 'terror attacks'? The kufaar, the enemies of islaam.

And the bombers help them.

and Hash how can we prove to you that extremists were behind these attacks?I thought there were claims.

**dreams2reality** · 07-23-2005

Assalamu alaikum brother,

While I absolutely agree that the kufar have and will set up "terrorist" actions to justify their killing Muslims by the thousands. In this case I had first thought that maybe they targeted the tourism areas in Egypt because the west has brought their values (not Islamic ones) to a Muslim country and is trying to spread capitalism and western ways to every country in the world. Maybe it was a message for them to get out?

**anis_z24** · 07-25-2005

salam

Its that many people dead really.
in cbc.ca they one number in islamonline they said another and in al-jazera they said another number. who to believe?

**Ummu Amatullah** · 07-27-2005

Originally Posted by minaz

Lol they won't realise, cuz they blow themselves up, oh well i guess Hellfire is a realisation

salams I still haven't figured it out most people say that it's not haram blowing your self up in a case like this and others say that blowing your self up is considered to be suicide.What do you think?