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| Africa: North |
| Sharm el-Sheikh corpse count now at |
| 2005-07-23 |
| Hate to say it, but I kinda called that we were in the middle of a summer attack wave that goes at least as far back as the Indian temple attack if not beforehand. This is likely to backfire in terms of popular support, given how many Egyptians work in the tourist trade. At least 49 people were killed in a series of powerful explosions early Saturday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheik, according to Egyptian state television and wire service reports. More than 100 people were wounded in the blasts, apparently caused by car bombs at hotels and a market that catered mostly to European and Arab tourists, the television said. Fire and smoke rose in Sharm el Sheik and nearby Naama Bay, which also has a strip of beach hotels. The Egyptian authorities said many of the wounded had severe injuries, and the death toll was expected to rise. Reuters, citing the police, put the death toll at 49. Saturday's bombings appeared to be the deadliest terror attack in Egypt since a 1997 assault in Luxor, on the Nile River, that killed 58 tourists. The explosions rocked the resort area shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday and all took place within a few minutes of one another, witnesses said. "I heard two blasts and got up and ran out of the hotel," Yasmine el-Bahey, an Egyptian spending the weekend at the Kahramana Hotel, said in a telephone interview. "Everybody was running outside. Glass was shattered and there was a big cloud of black. Everybody ran to the beach. Many of them were naked." There was no immediate claim of responsibility, and it was not clear whether the bombs were in parked cars or detonated by suicide bombers. "What happened early this morning is rejected by all people," Egypt's tourism minister, Ahmed el-Maghrabi, told Egyptian television. "These criminal gangs will not be able to prevent people from traveling and moving." The most powerful bombs went off in a parking lot between the Ghazala and Mövenpick hotels in Sharm el Sheik's Naama Bay area. The Ghazala Hotel was "completely burned down, destroyed," Amal Mustafa, an Egyptian visitor, told The Associated Press. Television footage showed parts of the building burned out. Another large bomb exploded in a popular market area a few miles away, the A.P. reported. That blast killed 17 people, many of them believed to be Egyptians sitting at a coffee shop. In addition, a blast occurred at a busy taxi stand, Egyptian television reported. Despite the late hour, the streets were still busy because many people stay indoors during the heat of the day and come out late at night. The violence occurred as Egypt prepared to hold its first multicandidate presidential elections in September. President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for 24 years, has prided himself on maintaining stability and has portrayed the elections as a significant reform. However, protesters and other critics of Mr. Mubarak say that opposition candidates will have little chance. Sharm el Sheik, which sits at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, is Egypt's leading resort and draws foreign tourists year-round from Europe and the Arab world. The area is particularly popular among scuba divers and snorkelers who are drawn to the clear water and abundant marine life. Sharm el Sheik is also used for international summit meetings: Mr. Mubarak was host to Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, there in February when the Israelis and Palestinians announced a truce. However, the Sinai Peninsula has also been a target for bombers. Three nearly simultaneous explosions ripped apart hotels in Taba, on the border with Israel, and two other Sinai resorts last October, killing 34 people. Those bombings were aimed at resorts that are popular among Israelis, who accounted for many of the casualties. The Egyptian authorities linked that attack to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The trial of three men suspected of involvement in the October attacks began this month. In first reports on the bombing on Saturday, the casualties included people from Britain, Russia, the Netherlands, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the A.P. reported, citing a security official. Egypt's economy depends heavily on tourism, and the industry had recovered after the series of terror attacks in the 1990's that drove away many Western visitors. After the 1997 attack in Luxor, Mr. Mubarak's government launched a sweeping crackdown against Muslim radicals opposed to his rule. No major attacks were carried out in Egypt until the bombings last October. In addition to those blasts, three tourists were killed in two bombings in Cairo in April. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #7 Pakistan is a snake pit of terrorists, all right. After 9-11 then Secretary of State Powell had his little talk with Musharraf and we obtained cooperation from Pakistan for our ops in Afghanistan, at least with the segments of the govt and military under Musharraf's control, which was sufficient for our ops. Now the snake is rearing its head again. How much control does Musharraf have? Not a lot, but enough to keep him in power. On the edge of a knife, I imagine. The real problem comes back to the resource trail, the money trail, and that is Saudi Arabian princes giving millions and millions away to madarassas, terrorist groups, mosques around the world. We are treating this problem symtomatically. We need to wipe out the money trail. And that requires some special ops, or at the minimum putting the fear of God, Allan, whatever into the Saudis to cease and desist in their dirty little games. We will get nowhere while treating the sores on the patient. We need a big hypo of penecillin, so to speak. How much Iran is involved in enabling this mischief is unknown, but they need a real good look. That is my take on the terrorist bombings. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-07-23 13:03 |
| #6 NPR said the death toll is 86 just about an hour ago... |
| Posted by: .com 2005-07-23 09:40 |
| #5 Dan, Popular SUPPORT is not the issue. What matters is that the people FEAR the terrorists. And fear them more than they either fear or support the alternatives. It worked pretty well for the Communists in Viet Nam - the US could not protect everyone, everywhere, all the time, but the Communists could attack anyone, anywhere, at any time, so to a large degree the people 'supported' the Communists. It is very difficult to fight a ruthless enemy without being ruthless too. It's fear of death and starvation versus desire for luxuries and freedom. A lot (most?) of the time fear wins - so the fight is to reduce the fear. In this war that battle is mainly fought on the airwaves. 100 people killed, or whatever it turns out to be, is a lot, but the effect is greatly multiplied by media exposure. The challenge for the 'good guys' is to come up with a PR/propaganda strategy that counteracts the media exposure effect (and NOT by censoring the media). |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2005-07-23 09:34 |
| #4 catered mostly to European and Arab tourists No accident, I'll bet the Zionist hotels had Jooooo security. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-07-23 09:07 |
| #3 Which is why it is crucial that Blair make an ultimatum to Pakistan after 7/7 and 7/21: dismantle your terror groups and their madrassas, deliver their leadership to the UK, OR ELSE! When Al-Qaeda attacked the US from its bases in Afghanistan, the American ultimatum went straight there. It's not enough to kill or catch a few terrorists in the UK -- the Pakistani head of the snake must be attacked. |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2005-07-23 03:31 |
| #2 Keep in mind that the leadership has had about 2 years now to reorganize and redeploy the additional resources that Zark needs to keep killing in Iraq. As long as the leadership stays in Iran and the training infrastructure in Pakistan, they can continue refining their capabilities as they see fit. |
| Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-07-23 01:56 |
| #1 Dan, its more significant than that. Up until this week AQ attacks have been one off. It gave people the feeling that we have had our attack, now we can move on. One off attacks weren't creating enough terror. Its been obvious for a while that repeated attacks were needed to increase the terror level, and some of us wondered here, why AQ didn't get this. These are logistically a lot harder, so it takes time and expertise to put organization in place. Now in 24 hours we have seen 2 repeated attacks - same targets, same MO, one in Sinai, the other in London. This I feel is now the new AQ strategy. One other thing, Its also clear that AQ has a lot of room to improve. I think we are seeing clear signs they are. Its my suspicion they are buying PIRA expertise. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-07-23 01:49 |