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| Africa North |
| Dahab body count up to 33 |
| 2006-04-26 |
| Three explosions shook the Egyptian Sinai resort of Dahab yesterday, killing at least 33 people and wounding at least 150, a security official said. Witnesses said smoke could be seen rising from the town’s tourist bazaar, and residents said they saw body parts and debris on the street after an explosion at a restaurant. An official with the local ambulance service said many of the dead appeared to be foreigners. The Dahab resort is popular with Western backpackers and budget Israeli tourists. Many Egyptians were also vacationing in the Sinai Peninsula as the bombings struck on Sham Al-Nessim, a public holiday which traditionally marks the beginning of spring. “Around 7 p.m., we heard three explosions close to the seafront alongside a supermarket in the center of Dahab,” French tourist Frederic Mingeon said from the town. “There was a plume of smoke and people started running and screaming.” State television said the blasts appeared to have been the result of remote-controlled bombs not suicide bombers. All exits from the town were sealed off by police. Israel, whose border is less than 160 km from Dahab, immediately offered to send emergency teams to help with rescue efforts. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz “offered to send army rescue teams and doctors”, his ministry said. Hundreds of Israeli tourists were rushing home after the blasts, Israeli police said, although the Defense Ministry could not confirm any Israeli deaths. The Interior Ministry said the blasts ripped through the Ghazala supermarket and the Nelson and Aladdin restaurants in central Dahab. “There was blood everywhere but the victims were evacuated very quickly,” said Cecile Casey, a young French tourist who was spending a few days in Dahab. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak pledged to punish the perpetrators of the bombing. said. “The perpetrators of these heinous acts of terrorism will be tracked down and punished,” Mubarak was quoted by the official MENA news agency as saying. President George W. Bush denounced the attacks as a “heinous act.” “I strongly condemn the killings that took place, the innocent lives lost,” Bush said of the attack. “I assure the enemy... we will bring them to justice for the sake of justice and humanity,” he said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which came a day after a new tape of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden surfaced calling for Muslim fighters to go to Sudan to wage war against “crusader thieves” and slamming the international isolation of the Hamas-led Palestinian government. In Ankara, visiting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned as criminal and cowardly the Dahab blasts. “This cowardly act which targeted innocent people is the expression of blind hatred of groups which hurt our nation and religion,” a statement issued by the president’s office said. The Palestinian government run by Hamas condemned the bombings. “Our government strongly condemns this criminal act which flouts our religion, shakes Palestinian national security and works against Arab interests,” government spokesman Razi Hamad said. A state of alert was declared at the main hospital in the Israeli border town of Eilat, both to handle any casualties sent for treatment there and to free up doctors for dispatch to the scene. Some 20,000 Israeli holidaymkers were believed to have been in the Sinai at the time of the blasts despite repeated warnings from their government of the risks of attack. Israel’s ambassador in Cairo, Shalom Cohen, told Channel 10 there were three explosions — in a hotel, a police station and a marketplace. Police said the explosions hit the central part of the city where there are many shops, restaurants, bars and guesthouses. The blasts ripped through the town shortly after nightfall when the streets would have been jammed with holidaymakers. Terrorist attacks have killed nearly 100 people at several tourist resorts in the Sinai region in the past two years. Bombings in the resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan, near the Israeli border, killed 34 people in October 2004. Suicide attackers in July in the resort of Sharm El-Sheikh killed at least 64 people, mainly tourists. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |