SHARM EL-SHEIKH: July 24: Egypt launched a vast manhunt on Sunday after the multiple bombings that killed 88 people in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, packed with Egyptians and foreign tourists.
Egypt’s deadliest attacks, which came at the peak of the tourist season and killed at least nine foreigners, drew a barrage of condemnation from around the world and dealt a blow to a regime increasingly exposed to Muslim terrorism just weeks ahead of a landmark presidential election.
The bombings sent chills through the international community still reeling from a series of attacks in London.
Egypt’s National Security forces started sweeping the Sinai peninsula hours after the explosions — two of them suicide car bombs — that struck a seafront hotel, a car park and a busy market area, security sources said.
Dozens were arrested and raids were ongoing on Sunday, after Interior Minister Habib al-Adly claimed investigators already had leads and suggested the attacks could be connected to deadly anti-Israeli bombings on Oct 7 further north on Sinai’s coastline.
“This cowardly and criminal act which is aimed at destabilizing Egypt will reinforce our determination to press the battle against terror through to its eradication,” President Hosni Mubarak said on Saturday.
The bombings, which turned the jewel of Egypt’s tourism industry into a nightmare of blood and destruction, were claimed by a group citing ties with Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda terror network.
A group calling itself the Al Qaeda Organisation in the Levant and Egypt said it carried out the bombings as a “response against the global evil powers which are spilling the blood of Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Chechnya.”
Saturday’s attacks followed a new terror scare on London’s transport system on Thursday after a series of bombings on July 7 also claimed by an Al Qaeda group that killed 52 people plus four suicide bombers
Meanwhile, forensic experts continued to identify the victims of the blasts.
The explosions were heard several miles around and the largest one completely destroyed the Ghazala Garden hotel, accounting for around half of the victims.
Medics said some of the bodies were burnt or mangled beyond recognition and that the identification process could take some time, while also warning that the death toll could rise further as many wounded were in critical condition.
“I’ve never seen so many eviscerated people and terrible wounds in my life,” said Rabab, 19, a nurse at the international hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh.
While the Egyptian authorities pointed out that thousands of tourists continued to pour into the Red Sea resort after the attacks, thousands of others were cutting their holidays short and fleeing the carnage.
Groups of haggard tourists from Britain, Russia, the Gulf and other countries could be seen dragging their luggage through the night hours after the bombings, scrambling to board the first outgoing buses.
Egyptians feared the attacks would deal a fatal blow to the tourism industry so crucial to the country’s economy.
The onslaught on Sharm el-Sheikh came only six weeks before the presidential election.
EXPLOSION: A man was seriously injured in an explosion in a southwestern suburb of Cairo on Sunday.
Police sources said he was carrying a primitive nail bomb but a senior official said he was a junk dealer.
“This is a guy collecting old stuff and this exploded while he was working on it. He is in hospital and not accused of anything. He’s not even under police supervision,” said the official, who asked not to be named.
