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stevo · 07-25-2005, 07:33 AM

roach- I'm aware of the local political climate in egypt, and it seems to me that terrorist attacks in middleeastern countries would serve to rally anti-terror support. Support for actions against religous extemism and wahabbism. It also appears that those involved were foreigners, not egyptian nationals, which would point more toward al-qaeda associated terrorists and not local political terrorists.

Quote:

Egyptian police hunt for suspects in Red Sea blasts
Mon Jul 25, 2005 1:33 PM BST

By Cynthia Johnston

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptian police hunting for bombers in the Sinai peninsula on Monday distributed photographs of some 50 foreigners, including Pakistanis, who may be connected with attacks that killed at least 64 people.

Two days after Egypt's worst attack since 1981, officials are investigating the possibility foreigners could be behind the three blasts which ripped through hotels and shopping areas at the popular Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Some of the 50 people were "known international terrorists" not known to have visited Sharm el-Sheikh, a security source told Reuters. It was not clear if the Pakistanis in the photos had been staying in the town, the source said.

But Arab satellite channels said Egyptian police were searching for up to nine Pakistanis for questioning.

They said the Pakistanis had been staying in hotels in Sharm el-Sheikh but disappeared after the bombings early on Saturday morning, leaving their passports at reception.

Al Jazeera television aired a copy of what it said was an Egyptian Interior Ministry list of suspects, highlighting the grainy pictures of two men named Muhammad Akhtar, 30, and Tasadduq Husayn, 18. It said they were Pakistanis.

Al Jazeera said the suspects might have entered the country using forged Jordanian passports.

Al Arabiya television said police were looking for six Pakistanis, adding that police had distributed their pictures throughout Sharm el-Sheikh.

Egypt's Interior Ministry did not comment on the reports.

A Pakistani embassy official in Cairo told Reuters his country was urgently requesting information from the Egyptian authorities.

PAKISTAN DOUBTS NATIONALS BEHIND

Islamic militants have launched attacks against tourist targets in Egypt but the involvement of Pakistanis, if confirmed, is unprecedented.

In Islamabad, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman said nine Pakistanis reportedly being sought by Egyptian authorities are unlikely to have been involved in the bomb attacks.

"I think that there is no connection between these nine Pakistanis and the bomb blasts in Egypt," Muhammad Naeem Khan said at a regular weekly news conference.

An Egyptian security source said on Monday police were surrounding villages near Sharm el-Sheikh, where they believed that two Pakistanis wanted for questioning may be hiding. But one of the villages, el-Ruweisat, was calm on Monday afternoon, with no sign of a police presence or unusual activity in the immediate vicinity.

Until Monday, suspicion fell on a group police said probably had links with those who attacked hotels in Sinai last year in which 34 people were killed. A Palestinian leading an unaffiliated group had been blamed for that blast.

At least 64 people were killed in the Sharm el-Sheikh attacks, Minister of Tourism Ahmed el-Maghrabi said, adding the count does not include a number of set of body parts.

Officials at Sharm el-Sheikh International Hospital on Saturday put the number of dead at 88.

Seven non-Egyptians, including two Italians, one Briton and a Czech, were also among the dead.

Mustafa Afifi, governor of South Sinai, told a news conference on Monday that one of the attackers rammed a car packed with explosives into the luxury Ghazala Garden hotel after running over a policeman.

He said the body of the attacker had been found inside the remains of the car but he did not identify the attacker.

The blasts against the showpiece of Egypt's tourism industry sent hundreds of foreign tourists, many sunburned and toting scuba diving gear, scrambling to catch flights back to European capitals.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy on Monday discouraged French tourists from travelling to Sharm el-Sheikh.

"We have not forbidden anything to anyone," Douste-Blazy told France 2 television when asked whether he was advising the French not to go to Egypt.

"(But) I think that if you are going on holiday today, it is maybe not necessary to go to a place where clearly planned attacks like this have happened," he said, not making clear whether he was referring to Sharm el-Sheik or Egypt as a whole.

Douste-Blazy's comments came after the U.S. State Department urged Americans to avoid the South Sinai governorate and crowded tourist destinations in Cairo.

The Egyptian pound, which should be vulnerable to a decline in tourism revenue, has remained stable at about 5.77 pounds to the dollar since banks reopened on Sunday morning.

The benchmark stock index fell 3 percent on Sunday but shares recovered some of those losses on Monday.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/news...EXPLOSIONS.xml