The Hindu : International : Sinai attacks target Israelis

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Saturday, Oct 09, 2004

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International

Sinai attacks target Israelis

By Atul Aneja

BIG STRIKE: Israeli rescue workers search for victims in the debris of the Hilton Hotel in Taba, Egypt, on Friday. — AP

MANAMA, OCT. 8. At least 31 persons, mainly Israelis, have been killed in four coordinated strikes at an Egyptian hotel and a tourist resort, marking the biggest attacks on Israelis abroad in the last two years.

Twenty-nine persons were killed when two explosions rocked the Hilton Hotel in Taba, across Israel's borders with Egypt. The others hit a hikers' camping area 60 km to the south near the oasis resort of Nuweiba, killing two.

Israeli officials said they suspected Al-Qaeda's involvement in the attacks. These bombings mark the first major attack on Egyptian soil since the mass killing in the city of Luxor in 1997, in which Islamist militants killed 58 tourists, some of whom were hacked to death.

It is also the first big strike in two years on Israelis abroad since a hotel in Mombassa in Kenya, frequented by Israelis was bombed. Around 16 persons were killed then.

The toll is expected to rise as 142 Israelis have been wounded in the bombings. Israeli media has reported that 6,000 Israeli tourists are still in Egypt's Sinai area, out of 15,000 who were there at the time of the explosions.

Toll may rise

There has been no contact with 38 persons. Taba is the main crossing point between Israel and Egypt, and a major gateway for thousands of Israelis going on holiday to resorts and hotels on the Red Sea.

Israeli officials said that a car packed with explosives rammed into the hotel and blew up. Moments later, a separate car bombing reinforced this attack. So powerful were the blasts that the first 10 floors of the hotel collapsed.

The other two bombings, where explosives-laden vehicles are suspected to have been used, targeted a campsite at Ras al-Shitan, an area that is popular with young Israeli hikers. Israeli intelligence officials, however, have been quoted as saying that these two car bombs might have exploded prematurely, missing their real targets, which were possibly two other hotels.

Search for survivors

Israeli rescue teams have been rummaging through the rubble at the site of the hotel blast, searching for survivors. More rescue teams equipped with bulldozers and cranes have headed across the border towards the site of the disaster. The Israeli Deputy Defence Minister, Zeev Boim, said that no firm conclusion could yet be drawn on the identity of the perpetrators of the bombings, but an Al-Qaeda hand was suspected.

"In my personal opinion, it seems that it is more fitted to the international terror groups like Al-Qaeda or some branches of Al-Qaeda."

The Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have denied any involvement.

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