JEDDAH, 24 July 2005 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd led world leaders yesterday in condemning the terrorist attacks in Sharm El-Sheikh. The king sent his condolences to President Hosni Mubarak and called for rooting out those who seek to spread corruption. Crown Prince Abdullah and Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, sent similar messages to the Egyptian leader.

The Kingdom strongly condemned the attacks and declared its full backing to Egypt and the international community in the war against terrorism. An official source quoted by the Saudi Press Agency said terrorism knows no religion or country and is only bent on destroying and killing.

The Makkah-based Muslim World League condemned the attacks, saying Islam rejects such acts and forbids the killing of the innocent. MWL Secretary-General Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Turki said the attacks were part of an international terrorist campaign and declared MWL readiness to work with the international community to fight violence and terrorism which he said does not belong to any particular religion.

The 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference described the attacks as criminal and evil acts that contradict Islamic teachings and human values.

The White House denounced the attacks. “The United States stands firmly with the people of Egypt at this time of national mourning,” White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said in a statement.

“The United States stands ready to assist the government of Egypt in helping the victims and bringing the perpetrators of these acts to justice. Standing together with the rest of the civilized world, we will win the conflict against this global scourge,” McClellan said.

President George W. Bush, who is at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, spoke with Mubarak to offer his personal condolences and the support of the American people.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed his “sorrow and anger” at the bombings. “Once again, in this tragic month, he condemns the use of terror and indiscriminate violence against civilians, which no cause or belief can possibly justify,” said a UN spokesman.

In Europe, from where many tourists travel to Egypt, the attacks only added to a sense of crisis triggered by the July 7 London bombings and follow-up attacks this week.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he could not rule out links to the London attacks. “Almost certainly they are evil people who will claim wrongly to have done this in the name of Islam,” he said.

In Paris, French President Chirac stressed the world’s “absolute determination to fight this scourge,” while German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer denounced the “blind and fanatical hatred” of the terrorists.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called on countries which have suffered terror attacks to stand united against terrorism, saying that could be the only response to “this barbaric threat.”

In Rome Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi called the attacks “tragic,” Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said they were “barbaric,” while EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso described them as “cowardly.”

Pope Benedict XVI said he was deeply saddened by the “senseless acts.”

In Asia the story was the same. In Tokyo a Foreign Ministry official said the Japanese government was “gravely shocked” by the attacks.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi condemned the bombings but warned that such attacks would continue unless the root causes of terrorism were understood.

“We just can’t get these people to stop. They’ll keep on doing it. We can condemn, we can say all we like, but we must be ready to sit down and to talk and discuss why this is happening,” he said.