The Arab world reacted in horror and outrage Tuesday at the bombings of an Egyptian resort — and a rift opened between hardline al-Qaida sympathizers and other radical Muslim groups who say the latest attacks have gone too far.
"Youse can't kill Moose limbs! Yer supposed to kill infidels, dammit!" | Three bombs ripped through a promenade in Egypt's Dahab resort at dusk Monday, killing at least 24 — most of them Egyptians on a holiday marking the first day of spring.
Latest figure is 30 dead... | The attack, the third on Sinai in less than two years, came a day after Osama bin Laden issued a call to arms to Muslims to support al-Qaida in what he calls a war against Islam.
So you're saying it's not rogue Bedouins? | Bin Laden specifically tried to justify attacks against civilians, and tried to align his group with the radical Hamas, which now runs the Palestinian government.
Understandable, since they're in much the same line of work... | But Hamas and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood were as quick to condemn the Dahab attacks as they were when terrorists carried out a triple bombing Nov. 9 at Amman, Jordan hotels, that killed 63 people.
Another set of attacks where the victims were Arabs, not Jews or Christians... | Those attacks provoked howls of outrage against al-Qaida in Iraq, which claimed responsibility. "The attack on Egypt brings back bad memories," said Muhannad Abul-Ghanam, a 37-year-old Jordanian businessman. "The result is the same — mainly Muslim Arabs died and there's more public hatred toward these militants."
"If it had been infidels, who would have minded? Except for the guys that own the hotels, of course..." | Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-run Palestinian Cabinet, called the Dahab bombings a "criminal attack which is against all human values."
"Hamas attacks are entirely different, y'see..." | Radical Muslim groups — like Hamas and the Brotherhood — have in recent months joined a regional chorus denouncing al-Qaida and its sympathizers for targeting Arab and Muslim civilians. "These groups, in the name of religion, justify such acts in which innocent people are killed," said Hassan Naboulsi, a 32-year-old supporter of the militant Lebanese Hezbollah faction in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. |