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| Africa: North |
| Egypt denies Pakistanis involved in Sharm el-Sheikh bombing |
| 2005-07-26 |
| The Egyptian government on Tuesday dismissed speculation that a group of missing Pakistanis helped in bombings which killed at least 64 people in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Investigators continued to look at possible links between the Sharm el-Sheikh bombings and similar attacks on Sinai peninsula resorts last October, security sources said. The Egyptian state newspaper al-Ahram quoted Assistant Interior Minister Mohamed Shaarawi as denying media reports that six Pakistanis were implicated in the bombings on hotel and shopping areas on Saturday -- the worst in Egypt since 1981. The official, who is in charge of the investigation team, also denied reports that the authorities were looking for the six Pakistanis, who the Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera said disappeared and left their passports at a hotel reception desk. The newspaper quoted an unnamed security source as saying there were indications the Pakistanis were illegal workers and had probably fled to Israel along desert tracks. The Egyptian ambassador to Pakistan, Hussein Haridy, also denied reports that Pakistanis were involved in the attacks. "We deny categorically any links between Pakistani nationals and Sharm el-Sheikh blasts," he told Reuters in Islamabad. "As far as Pakistan is concerned, it is categorically denied, and about other foreign nationals the investigations are going on." Police in Sharm el-Sheikh did distribute the photographs and passport numbers of five missing Pakistani men, aged between 36 and 18, to checkpoints in the South Sinai area, but some security sources said it was a precautionary step and the men were never the prime suspects in the investigations. One security source, who asked not to be named, said police circulated the photos in early July as part of a separate investigation into incidents of fraud. Egyptian police have detained 175 people, mainly Sinai Bedouin who might have information about the bombers. At least five groups have claimed responsibility for the attacks, which bore a strong resemblance to last year's bombings at Taba and at two beach camps frequented by Israelis. They range from professed affiliates of the al Qaeda organisation to a previously unknown Sinai-based group protesting against the Egyptian government's treatment of local people after the Taba bombings. Human rights groups say police detained some 2,500 people after the attack on the Hilton hotel in Taba and mistreated many of them. The government says that number is exaggerated and it investigates all allegations of torture. The latest claim, from the Tawhid and Jihad Group in Egypt, could be more credible as it was posted on an Islamist Web site often used by the al Qaeda Organisation in Iraq, but it was not possible to verify the authenticity of the undated statement. It said it carried out both the Taba and Sharm el-Sheikh attacks "in obedience to the leaders of jihad (holy war) in al Qaeda, Sheikh Osama bin Laden and Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahri" and to avenge the "oppressed brothers in Iraq and Afghanistan". Egyptian police are investigating the possibility that Mohamed Fulayfel, the brother of one of the Taba bombers, drove a suicide car bomb into the Ghazala Gardens Hotel on Saturday. On Monday, Egyptian police fought gunbattles in desert mountains near Sharm el-Sheikh in a hunt for Sinai Bedouin who may have links with the bombings. At least seven non-Egyptians were among the dead and at least 14 others are missing, possibly dead. A British Foreign Office spokesman said on Tuesday the families of some of 10 missing Britons were on their way to Sharm el-Sheikh to follow the search. One family said in a statement that two of their children -- Jez Lakin, 28, and Annalie Vickers, 31 -- were in the resort at the time and were probably killed in one of the explosions. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |