Police scour bomb blast sites for clues

Egyptian police were today searching for clues in the aftermath of the deadly bomb blasts in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheik that killed 88 people.

Security officials believe four terrorists used two pick-up trucks loaded with explosives possibly hidden under a load of vegetables to bomb the Ghazala Gardens Hotel in Naama Bay and a crowded coffee shop in an area called the Old Market two miles away.

Along the route, they dropped off a third bomb rigged with a timer in a suitcase in a car park also in Naama Bay which exploded as people fled the scene of the Ghazala blast, which was apparently carried out by a suicide attacker.

More than 70 people have been detained in the resort and elsewhere on the Sinai Peninsula for questioning over yesterday’s explosions.

The round-ups appeared similar to police operations following last October’sattacks at the Sinai resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan, which Egypt’s interior minister has said could be linked to the blasts in Sharm, some 125 miles to the south.

Two rival claims of responsibility have emerged but neither statement could be authenticated.

One group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades of al Qaida in Syria and Egypt, also claimed responsibility for the October bombings in Taba and for a dual shooting-bomb attack in April in Cairo.

Also, the previously unknown Holy Warriors of Egypt said it had carried out the Sharm attack.

Local investigators are also examining the possibility that foreigners carried out the blasts, which have sent shock waves through this country’s vital tourism industry.

“It’s not just my job that’s at risk today. It’s everyone’s here,” said Mohammed Ahmed, 32, chief of a marine rescue team. “It’s all about tourists - if they don’t come, we don’t work.”

Sharm’s international airport was crowded with tourists wanting to leave Egypt early for home. Others were making scheduled returns to Europe and beyond. Some airlines have flown extra planes to Sharm to carry home tourists wanting to cut short holidays.

“We didn’t want to push our luck,” said Andreas Heimsath, a 40-year-old German travelling with his son on return to Frankfurt. “You never know whether something like that can happen again.”

But there were others who tried to continue their holiday by shopping for T-shirts and trinkets along Naama Bay’s wide streets or relaxing on its beaches.

“The purpose of terrorism is they think we will run (but) the answer is no,” said Franz Weinlich, a doctor from Frankfurt. “I don’t like to dance to the music of terrorism.”

Egyptian workers laboured to clean up rubble and twisted metal in the Old Market area and repair damaged souvenir shop fronts and cafes. Glass from the windows of bomb-ravaged cars still covered streets.

Policemen were present in large numbers around bomb blast sites and eerily quiet restaurant strips.

Egyptian health officials say at least 34 of the victims have yet to be identified. Those killed were mostly Egyptians, but among the dead were at least seven Westerners including two Britons, two Germans, an Italian and a Czech, according to health officials.

British police are among a group of UK officials who travelled to Sharm in the wake of the attacks, which wounded seven Britons and left several missing, said British Embassy spokeswoman Caroline Alcock.

“There are a number of people still unaccounted for and we have to bear in mind the possibility of British fatalities, although there has been no confirmation of such,” said Alcock.

Local officials in South Sinai said the bodies of people killed have been taken to the peninsula’s capital of Tor, where there is a larger morgue. At least 119 people were also wounded.

Security officials believe the attacks were carried out by four men who had driven into Sharm along desert tracks from the north of the city while hiding at least 880lbs of explosives in their vehicles.

One died in the devastating suicide bomb attack on the Ghazala, while three others are believed to be at large.

Two of the men left a green Isuzu pickup packed with explosives in the Old Market area, which later blew up after apparently being set off by a timing device, the officials claimed. The bomb blew a 16ft wide crater into the middle of the road, which police have cordoned off.

The two other militants drove a white pick-up truck to Naama Bay, with one man getting out to plant a small bomb in a bag, while the other slammed the vehicle into the Ghazala hotel’s reception area some 150 yards away, the officials claimed.

As people fled the hotel attack, the bomb in the bag exploded and killed at least seven people, said the officials.