SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Oct 9: The Egyptian government said on Saturday Israel had rushed to judgement when it blamed the Al Qaeda organization for three explosions at Egyptian Red Sea resorts frequented by Israelis.

Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Zeev Boim said on Friday a group similar to al Qaeda appeared to be responsible for the bombings, which killed at least 33 people, mostly Israeli tourists spending a Jewish holiday on the beach.

"We believe that is a very hasty assessment by the Israeli side. On what bases is such an assessment built?" said Egyptian presidential spokesman Maged Abdel Fattah.

"Such incidents have very many aspects which must be studied ... So we must not be driven by attempts to push in a particular direction," he added.

"Why should we stick to al Qaeda and leave aside the other groups which have claimed responsibility?" he said. Three previously unknown groups with Islamist-sounding names have said they carried out the attacks.

Abdel Fattah said it was too early to say either who was responsible for the Thursday bombings, the most serious attack on tourists in Egypt since 1997, or where the explosives came from or what was the purpose of the attacks.

An Egyptian security source said on Friday that Egypt was working on the assumption that an Islamist group related to al Qaeda was behind the bombings but other Egyptian officials linked the attack to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Egyptian spokesman was speaking after talks in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik.

In remarks to reporters, translated into Arabic, Bondevik said the Taba attacks had their roots in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He quoted Mubarak as saying such incidents could recur unless there were solutions in that conflict and in Iraq.

SUSPECT LIST: Egypt put 13 people under close scrutiny on Saturday, including Bedouin tribesmen, as the authorities hunted those behind the bombings at Red Sea resorts which killed at least 34 people, most of them Jews.

"Thirteen suspects among those possibly linked to the attacks are currently under tight surveillance," a police source said, without giving any details other than to say many of the suspects were from local Bedouin tribes.

As investigation continued into Thursday night's attacks, claimed by a group linked to Al-Qaeda, Egyptian and Israeli workers searched the rubble of the Hilton Hotel in Taba where most of the fatalities were.

Twelve Russians were known to be missing, according to Russian embassy officials in Egypt..-Reuters / AFP