A succession of car bombs rocked the resort of Sharm el-Sheik early this morning, killing at least 75 people and injuring more than 120, many of them critically, in the latest terrorist episode to strike at the heart of the Egyptian tourism industry.
The blasts ripped the front off at least one hotel and sowed panic among people heading home after a night out in restaurants and clubs of the Red Sea resort in the Sinai peninsula.
On Saturday, medics and officials said at least 75 people had died. Police said at least four, perhaps seven, car bombs were detonated soon after 1am local time, one tearing through the bazaar and three shaking seafront hotels at the Naama Bay. Smoke and fire could be seen rising up from the district.
”Many of the injuries are very serious and the injured are in critical condition,” said one doctor at Sharm el-Sheikh international hospital, who asked not to be named.
One witness, Amal Mustafa, said that a four-star hotel on the main tourist strip in Naama had been ”completely burned down, destroyed”.
Another said houses more than a kilometre away were shaken by the blasts and some windows were blown out.
Fabio Basone, a tourist in Sharm el-Sheik, told the BBC that the front of one hotel had been ”completely blown away”.
He described scenes of chaos as screaming holidaymakers poured out of clubs and bars in panic after the volley of explosions.
Other holidaymakers said that the resort was packed with tourists from Europe, Israel, Jordan and Egypt.
”I have never been so scared in the whole of my life,” one British tourist, Samantha Hardcastle, told BBC television from Naama Bay, which has dozens of luxury hotels.
”The explosion we felt was very violent and the hotel we are staying in shook. We saw lots of smoke and there were sirens. It was absolutely horrific.”
Sharm el-Sheik is a popular destination for both Egyptians and foreign visitors.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair spent New Year there last year, while Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, has a residence in the resort; it was not known if he was there on Friday night.
The blasts coincided with Egypt’s National Day, the commemoration of the 53rd anniversary of the 1952 revolution which overthrew the monarchy.
It also comes against a backdrop of growing political tension in Egypt, where increasingly bold campaigners for reform are urging a boycott of upcoming presidential elections because of disenchantment with new electoral rules promoted by Mr Mubarak.
The attacks bore echoes of a car bomb attack on Egyptian Red Sea resorts last October that killed more than 30 holidaymakers, most of them Israelis. On that occasion, car bombs hit the resort of Taba and Ras Shitan, 160km to the north-west of Sharm.
Egyptian authorities blamed that attack on the Israeli-Palestinian violence and arrested dozens of people in Sinai.
It was the first attack on tourists since the 1997 attack by gunmen near Luxor which killed 58 people.
Tourists were again targeted in April when a man threw a bomb at a tour group in Cairo’s old city, killing one person in the first deadly attack on tourists in the capital for seven years.
‘Sorrow and anger’
United Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice led international condemnation of the bombings.
”I condemn the horrific terrorist bombings in Sharm el-Sheikh, our thoughts and prayers are with the families and innocent victims from many nations who suffered in this senseless attack,” Rice said ahead of a visit to the West Bank to meet Palestinian leaders.
”At this difficult time of testing, the United States stands with our friend and ally Egypt. Together we will confront and defeat this scourge that knows no boundary and respects no creed,” Rice added.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed his ”sorrow and anger” at the bombings, which were claimed by an al-Qaeda linked group.
”The secretary general has reacted with sorrow and anger to the news of the multiple car bombs in the Sinai peninsula, which have cruelly struck the brave Egyptian nation on its National Day,” a UN spokesperson said in a statement.
”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,” the spokesperson said.
Israel offered to send army rescue teams to the Red Sea resort on the tip of the Sinai peninsula to help emergency crews deal with the carnage.
”We forcefully condemn these inhuman acts of terrorism and the army is ready to help our Egyptian neighbours if they need it,” said Israeli government spokesperson Avi Pazner.
Yuval Steinitz, the chairperson of Parliament’s foreign affairs and defence committee, said that the attacks in Sharm el-Sheikh appeared to represent a major intelligence failure especially so soon after the 2004 attacks in another Sinai resort, Taba, which killed 34 people including Israelis.
”At first sight, it looks like a failure on the intelligence and security front of the first degree,” he told public radio. ”There was a terrible attack less than a year ago in similar circumstances and all the red lights should have been flashing.”
Iran said it firmly condemned the bombings but called on the United States to change tack in its war on terror.
”We appeal to Western countries not to impose restrictions on Muslims as these attacks have nothing to do with Muslims and placing restrictions on Muslims is the best way of helping the terrorists,” foreign ministry spokesperson Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
He said the wave of bombings against Western targets showed the folly of Washington’s approach to Islamic militancy.
”The approach of the United States in the war on terror has made the world a less safe place. Every day we are seeing attacks around the world … it’s because of the the incorrect and childish approach of the United States.
”The United States must change its policy in the war against terror, give up its double standards and extend its hand to the international community, as the sole means of combating terrorism is through international cooperation.”
Russia and Japan also condemned the bombings.
”We strongly condemn this criminal act and hope that the terrorists will be found and severely punished,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement posted on its internet site.
In Toyko a foreign ministry official said the government was ”gravely shocked” by the attacks.
”Terrorism cannot be justified for any reason, and the government of Japan firmly condemns atrocious terrorism that victimises many innocent people,” he said. – Sapa-AFP, Guardian Unlimited Â