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70 arrested after carnage in sharm el sheik Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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70 arrested after carnage in Egypt
SARAH EL DEEB
IN SHARM EL-SHEIK
EGYPTIAN police scoured for clues yesterday and struggled to identify dozens of the 88 people killed in three co-ordinated bomb blasts in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik early on Saturday morning.
More than 70 people have been detained in Sharm el-Sheik and elsewhere on the Sinai Peninsula for questioning since the explosions. None has yet been accused of involvement in Egypt's deadliest-ever terror attack, said security officials, who declined to be identified.
The British Ambassador to Egypt, Sir Derek Plumbly, was last night unable to confirm any deaths, but a manager of the hospital in the popular tourist spot said two Britons had died.
Another two Britons who were staying at the bombed Ghazala Gardens Hotel were missing, said British Embassy officials. Among the injured were a 14-year-old girl and a 30-year-old man.
The Foreign Office last night updated its advice for British people travelling to Egypt, warning of a "high threat from terrorism", but not placing the country on the list of those it advises people not to visit.
An estimated 9,000 Britons were thought to have been in the resort when the three bombs went off.
The Egyptian police round-ups appeared similar to operations following last October's attacks at the Sinai resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan, which Egypt's interior minister has said could be linked to the blasts in Sharm, some 200km (125 miles) to the south.
Police were investigating whether one of three suspects still at large from the Taba bombings was the suicide bomber who carried out one of Saturday's blasts. The parents of the fugitive were held by police in the north Sinai city of el-Arish and DNA samples were taken from them, a police official in el-Arish said.
The DNA will be compared to bodies found at the Ghazala Gardens Hotel, the official said.
Fears over attacks against tourists continued as a small explosion went off in a neighbourhood several kilometres from a tourist bazaar near the Pyramids of Giza, severely injuring one man. The interior ministry said the blast happened in the man's home when he was going through his collection of "vintage items".
But a senior security official involved in the investigation said the man was carrying explosives in a sack when it went off accidentally, severely wounding him but causing no other casualties or damage. Police were trying to determine if he was heading toward the bazaar, the official said.
In Sharm, investigators were forming a picture of how the bombings were carried out.
Security officials believe the attacks were the work of four men who had driven into Sharm along desert tracks from the north of the city while hiding at least 400kg (880lbs) of explosives in their vehicles, possibly under vegetable loads.
Two of the men left a green Isuzu pick-up truck packed with explosives in the Old Market area, which later blew up after apparently being set off by a timing device, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.
The two other militants drove a white pick-up truck to Naama Bay, about 3km from the Old Market. One man got out to plant a small bomb in a suitcase in a carpark, while the other slammed the vehicle into the Ghazala hotel's reception area some 150 metres away, the officials said.
As people fled the hotel attack, the bomb in the bag exploded and killed at least seven people, said the officials.
Two rival claims of responsibility have emerged for the Sharm bombings, but neither could be authenticated.
One was from the Abdullah Azzam Brigades of al-Qaeda in Syria and Egypt, which also claimed responsibility for the October bombings in Taba and for a dual shooting-bomb attack in April in Cairo. The previously unknown Holy Warriors of Egypt also said it had carried out the Sharm attack.
Local investigators are also examining the possibility that foreigners carried out the blasts, which have sent shockwaves through the country's vital tourism industry.
"It's not just my job that's at risk today. It's everyone's here," said Mohammed Ahmed, 32, chief of a marine rescue team. "It's all about tourists - if they don't come, we don't work."
At Sharm's airport, dozens of tourists were lined up waiting to leave Egypt early, but there appeared to be a lower number of them than a day earlier.
A few arrivals claimed they were worried, but would still go ahead with their holidays. "I was really afraid because of the bombs, but my boyfriend was looking forward to the holiday," Sandra Stiller, from Austria, said. "My mother is really worried ... but we have a hotel in the middle of nowhere."
"I booked and paid," said Wolfgang Payrich, another tourist who arrived from Austria on the same flight. "I have no fear because after one bomb, I hope there will not be a second. I hope one is enough."
Other tourists seemed to want to see the site of the bombings. One couple even had their picture taken against the backdrop of a scene of devastation.
Egyptian workers cleared rubble and twisted metal in the Old Market area and repaired damaged souvenir shopfronts and cafes. Glass from the windows of bomb-damaged cars still covered streets.
"I am a lucky man this morning - we only expected 100 Egyptian pounds today because after the bomb there was no business, but these shoppers have bought things for 260 Sterling pounds," said Michael Sami, owner of a silver shop.
At least 119 people were wounded in the attacks. Egyptian health officials say at least 34 of the dead have yet to be identified. Those killed were mostly Egyptians, but among the dead were at least seven westerners including two Germans, an Italian and a Czech.
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