SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt, 25 July 2005 — Police have detained scores of people in connection with Saturday’s multiple bomb attacks in this Red Sea resort. A police source put the number at 75.
Dozens of Bedouins were arrested in a dawn swoop. Security experts said the attacks might have been facilitated by Bedouin groups who allied themselves with terrorists after a government crackdown on Bedouins in Sinai following the Oct. 7 Taba bombings. Mohammed Fulayfil, who is thought to have been behind the bombing of Taba Hilton, is still at large.
Police were trying to determine whether Fulayfil was the suicide bomber who carried out one of Saturday’s blasts. The parents of the fugitive were taken in by police in the north Sinai city of El-Arish and DNA samples were taken from them. The DNA will be compared to bodies found at the Ghazala Gardens hotel, a police source said.
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 concealing at least 400 kilograms of explosives in their vehicles, possibly hidden under a load of vegetables.
Authorities struggled to identify dozens of the 88 people killed in the three coordinated bomb blasts that sent foreign tourists scrambling to catch flights home. Tourists and many foreign employees in the hospitality industry were seen leaving the resort. “We’ve seen around 30 percent of people leaving early, but we’re predicting 70 percent cancellations,” said a luxury hotel manager.
“Twelve Italians from the entertainment team left Saturday. Others are getting ready to go. This is the first time that employees are fleeing at the same time as clients,” he said.
Twenty-four hours after the explosions, the usually animated seafront was deserted but for a handful of foreign travelers. Instead, Egyptian tourists were in a majority.
At Sharm’s international airport, dozens of tourists were lined up wanting to leave Egypt early for home, but it appeared to be in lower volume than the day before. Others were making scheduled returns to Europe and beyond. Some airlines have flown extra planes to the resort to carry home tourists wanting to cut short holidays.
Experts said that Sharm El-Sheikh, which has around 36,000 hotel rooms, is expect to face losses of about $3 billion. Ahmad Galal, head of the Egyptian Center of Economic Studies, said the attacks will have an impact on Egyptian tourism. “But we will get over this problem, especially because it happened after the London bombings. This goes to show that terrorism is something international and does not only happen in Egypt,” he told Arab News.
Sameh Sawiris, chairman of Orascom for Hotels, said: “I’m afraid there will be a negative effect on the tourism industry. My company has not received any cancellation yet but I expect that this will happen and the market will be stagnant, especially if there are more attacks in the country.”
The Saudi Consulate said two Saudis flew to Jeddah yesterday, while a third is being treated at Sharm El-Sheikh International Hospital. He is in stable condition.
Police said they still cannot identify 33 bodies.
A bomb explosion in Cairo added to tourist jitters. A man was seriously injured by the explosion in a southwestern suburb of the metropolis. An Interior Ministry statement said the man collected junk as a hobby and was playing around in his junk room when a “foreign body” exploded in his face. “He’s not accused of anything. He’s not even under police supervision,” added a senior government official.
But police sources said the man, named as Sami Gamal Ahmed Hegazi, 33, was carrying a primitive nail bomb and was going into his apartment block in the Kafr Tuhurmus district when it exploded.
— Additional input from agencies
