CAIRO, July 27: Six Pakistanis who had been suspected of involvement in Saturday’s deadly bombings in Sharm el-Sheikh were illegal immigrants believed to have crossed into Israel to seek work, the government daily Al-Ahram said on Wednesday.

Quoting a senior security source, the newspaper said the six Pakistanis had entered Egyptian territory on July 5 and checked into a hotel in the southern Cairo suburb of Maadi, where their passports were later found.

“We know they never went to Sharm el-Sheikh,” the source told Al-Ahram.

Egyptian security sources had said two days after Egypt’s deadliest ever attacks that a group of six Pakistanis was suspected of links to the bombings.

The news had increased the pressure on Pakistan, following the deadly July 7 bombings in London, where three of the bombers were of Pakistani origin and are suspected of ties with Osama’s Al Qaeda network.

On Tuesday, the Egyptian embassy in Pakistan said the authorities in Cairo had never accused any Pakistani national of involvement in the July 23 attacks which according to the health ministry left at least 67 people dead.—AFP