Egypt said yesterday it was looking for six Pakistani men suspected of having links to Saturdayâs multiple explosions in this Red Sea resort. Investigators have sent photographs of the six to police stations in Sinai and checkpoints on the road to Cairo. Police named five of them as Mohammad Anwar, 30, Rashid Ali, 26, Mohammad Akhtar, 30, Tasadduq Hussein, 18, and Mohammad Arif, 36.âThe six Pakistanis were staying at a hotel in Maadi called Cairo Tel and their passports were fake... They arrived in Sharm El-Sheikh almost on the same day of the arrival of two pickup trucks that were used in the bombings, which is July 5,â said an official connected with the probe. âWe think that one of the Pakistanis was killed in the attacks. But we can confirm that only after we are done with the DNA tests,â he added.
Khaled Arafa, an Interior Ministry official, said investigators were trying to find out if there was a link between the Pakistanis and the attacks. âAt the moment we are still investigating if they have a direct or an indirect link to the bombings but we donât think that they carried out the attacks themselves because the explosive materials were smuggled through Taba mountains and only Bedouins know these areas quite well,â Arafa told Arab News.
An official at the Pakistan Embassy in Cairo said his embassy was in contact with Egyptian authorities over the issue of the missing Pakistanis. âBut they have not officially informed us that the Pakistanis are suspected of involvement in the bombing. They are only saying: âWe are searching for them. We cannot trace them,ââ said Khalid Ahmed, a counselor at the Pakistani mission. âIt is very difficult for us to confirm whether any Pakistani was in Sharm El-Sheikh but it is possible that someone may have been there. I have a strong belief that Pakistanis cannot be involved in terrorism here.â