July 22, 2005

Terror Attacks In Egypt

This one is already quite ugly, as at least seven explosions are reported to have killed at least 25 and wounded over 110.

Saturday's explosions at 1:15 a.m., when many tourists would have been asleep, shook windows a mile away. Smoke and fire rose from Naama Bay, a main strip of beach hotels in the desert city popular with Israeli and European tourists, witnesses said.

A police official in Sharm el-Sheik said at least 25 were killed and 110 wounded in multiple explosions targeting the Ghazala Gardens and Movenpick hotels in Naama Bay and the Old Market area nearby. Other officials in Sharm said there may have been as many as seven blasts: three in Naama Bay and four in the market.

Amal Mustafa, 28, an Egyptian who was visiting with her family, said she drove by the Ghazala Garden — a 176-room four-star resort on the main tourist strip in Naama — and it was "completely burned down, destroyed."

Khaled Sakran, a resident, said he saw one explosion from the Old Market. "I saw the saw the fire in the sky," he told The Associated Press. "Right after, I saw a light in the sky and heard another explosion, coming from Naama Bay."

"The blast shook my house, I can see the fire and lots of smoke," Akram al-Sherif, a Jordanian who was staying at a summer house less than a mile away, said.

No group has yet admitted its guilt.

UPDATE: While the official death toll stands at 31 dead and 107 wounded, South Sinai province's governor, Mustafa Afifi, suggests that the actual death toll is 49, with over 200 wounded. It also seems that there were only three bombs, with the earlier reports of seven being based upon echoes and secondary explosions. The dead include British, Russian, Dutch, Kuwaitis, Saudis, Qataris and Egyptians.

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