Terror hits Sharm el-Sheikh, at least 75 people dead
Egypt, Local, 7/23/2005

A series of explosions including at least three car bombs struck the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh early Saturday, hitting several hotels packed with foreign and Egyptian tourists.

Suicide car bombers wreaked carnage in Egypt's tourist packed Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday, killing at least 75 people and wounding 120 more, medics and witnesses said.

The attacks on the popular Sinai resort at the peak of the tourist season were the deadliest in Egypt in eight years and officials feared the death toll could rise further.

Police said there were up to seven bombings and witnesses told AFP that at least four of them were suicide car bomb attacks.

In what appeared to be the most devastating of the string of explosions that rocked the resort city almost simultaneously around 1:00 am (2200 GMT Friday), a suicide bomber rammed his car into the Ghazala Garden hotel.

"A suicide car bomber forced the barrier at the entrance of the hotel. A member of the security staff tried to stop him but he sped towards the reception and there was a huge explosion," a Ghazala hotel employee told AFP, an official news report said.

While there was no immediate indication as to who had carried out the blasts, anti-terrorist units were rushed to the scene. Tight security was immediately slapped on the area.

"We have cancelled all holidays and dispatched the bulk of our anti-terrorist units to Sharm el-Sheikh. We are at the highest level of alert across the country," a high-ranking security official told AFP.

An AFP reporter at the scene said the front of the hotel had been severely damaged and the force of the blast sent debris flying more than 100 meters from the building.

Medical sources in the city said a total of at least 50 people were killed and at least 150 wounded 120 of them seriously.

Saturday's attacks followed a new terror scare on London's transport system on Friday after a series of bombings on July 7 that killed 52 people plus four suicide bombers.

Witnesses in Sharm El-Sheikh said scenes of panic broke out after Saturday's explosions in the resort city known to Egyptian as "the city of peace."

"There are bodies strewn all over the Ghazala hotel. The hotel is very badly damaged and the structure is barely standing," said witness Khaldun Badran.

"There are lots of bodies covered with blood-stained white sheets around the hotel. Lots of people rushed to the scene to see what was happening but up to 60 policemen are cordoning off the area," a Sharm El-Sheikh resident said.

Another bomb went off on a car park a few hundred yards away from the Ghazala hotel, smashing shop fronts on the busy Qabous street.

The bomb went off near the resort's Hard Rock Cafe and other nightlife spots popular with the tens of thousands of foreign tourists on holidays in Sharm El-Sheikh.

Previous Stories:
  Accusations against an Egyptian of links to London bombs are false   (7/20/2005)
  Sinai: two killed, 3 injured in clashes between the police, Bedouins   (6/20/2005)
  Trial of persons accused in Sinai explosions start in July   (6/8/2005)

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