Happy vacation in Egypt ends with death of 23 people killed with 3 simultaneous blasts

Three bombs that exploded in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Dahab leaving at least 23 people dead were the work of suicide bombers, the governor of the south Sinai region has said.

Photo: Happy vacation in Egypt ends with death of 23 people killed with 3 simultaneous blasts

Egyptian television had earlier reported that Monday's blasts, which also wounded 62 people, were caused by remote controlled devices (see pictures here).

"The explosions were a bit weaker than the previous ones, but now they are using suicide attacks," said Mohamed Hani.

Three apparent bomb blasts ripped through Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Dahab last night, killing at least 30 people and wounding more than 100, Reuters said.

Residents said they saw body parts and debris in the street outside a restaurant and witnesses said smoke billowed up from the tourist bazaar in Dahab, a Sinai peninsula beach and diving centre popular with foreign holidaymakers, including Israelis.

A cafe worker near the scene of one explosion said: “We saw many dead people. People were screaming. People were being taken to hospital. There’s police everywhere.”

The blasts occurred about 7.15pm local time.

Yesterday was a holiday in Egypt, part of a five-day spring break.

The bombs went off in two restaurants, the Nelson Restaurant and the Aladdin cafe, and in the Ghazala supermarket.

One visitor to the town said cars and buses leaving the resort were being stopped by police.

US President Bush, seeming to equate the perpetrators of the attacks with al-Qaeda militants who carried out the September 11 attacks in the US , said: “Today we saw again that the terrorists are willing to try to define the world the way they want to see it.”

A spokesman for the Russian diplomatic mission in Egypt , Bashir Malsagov, said that the explosions in the resort city of Dahab killed a Russian citizen, Leonid Titorenko (30 y.o.). Muscovite Olga Feigina, 28, suffered a minor injury as a result of the blasts.

Several foreign citizens, including a Russian, a Swiss nationals and a German child were killed in the terrorist attacks among 23 other victims. Over 60 people were wounded: 42 of them are Egyptians, others came from Italy, Denmark, Korea Israel, Great Britain, France, Germany, USA, Australia, Lebanon and Palestine.

Source: agencies