CAIRO, 10 October 2004 — Egyptian police were deployed in force around tourist attractions in Cairo yesterday after a string of deadly bombings in the Sinai Peninsula. Tough security measures were put into place soon after attacks on a hotel and backpacker camps on the Sinai’s Red Sea coast late Thursday in which at least 33 people died, mostly Israelis.
Saudi Arabia yesterday denounced the bombing as “an outrageous criminal act” and expressed solidarity with Egypt in its fight against terrorism. “We have kept all our capabilities at the service of our brethren in Egypt,” an official statement said in Riyadh.
Police checkpoints were set up on roads leading to the capital’s luxury hotels, in addition to metal detectors and X-ray machines that have been in place for several years at hotel entrances.
Only taxis carrying passengers were allowed to approach hotels, with their drivers having to hand over their identity cards and vehicle registration while they dropped tourists off.
Mirrors were also being used to inspect the undersides of vehicles for bombs. The police presence was also stepped up at Cairo’s main tourism attractions, in particular the National Museum.
Parking anywhere near tourist hotels has been forbidden, with metal barriers set up throughout the city center. Inside the hotels, it appeared to be business as usual, with crowds of tourists coming and going.
“Very few stays have been curtailed,” one receptionist said, “but a small number of reservations have been canceled.”
Cairo is at least a six-hour drive from Taba, the site of the hotel blast Thursday, and few Israelis venture as far as the capital. Rescue workers sifted through the wreckage of the Hilton Taba Hotel yesterday, hoping to find survivors. Israel suspected the attacks were linked to Al-Qaeda.
Egypt’s Al-Ahram daily said Egyptian police were questioning 12 suspects about the explosions. An Interior Ministry spokesman said dozens of people were being questioned to gather information, but said it was too early to talk about suspects.
More bodies are thought to lie beneath the rubble of the luxury Hilton Hotel, right on the Israeli border. It was the target of the biggest of a series of explosions on the eastern coast of the Sinai Peninsula.
“Hope is our fuel. We are hoping there is a pocket of air where someone could be alive,” said Col. Gideon Bar-on, commander of the Israeli army rescue unit. He said his team had found survivors of earthquakes days after buildings collapsed.
One charred corpse, its clothing still smoldering, was pulled out of the broken masonry and taken away in an Egyptian Red Crescent vehicle. Ultraorthodox Jewish workers sifted the wreckage to gather all the human remains for burial.
Most were killed in the car bomb in Taba, but two Israelis died in one of two near simultaneous bombings further south. Egypt’s official news agency said 149 people were wounded.
Israeli defense officials and an Egyptian security source said the blasts appeared to be linked to Al-Qaeda. A previously unknown pro-Al-Qaeda Islamist group called Islamic Tawhid Brigades claimed responsibility for the blast on a website.
“There are lot of parties saying they are responsible. But investigations are ongoing and we are gathering more and more information and leads. I am confident we will know the culprits very soon,” South Sinai Governor Mustafa Al-Afifi said.
—Additional input from agencies
