Pakistan denied involvement of its citizens in London, Egyptian bombings

The Egyptian ambassador to Pakistan on Tuesday denied reports that Pakistani nationals were involved in the weekend bomb attacks in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh that killed at least 64 people.

The ambassador, Hussein Haridy, said six Pakistanis being sought by Egyptian police had nothing to do with the blasts.

"We deny categorically any links between Pakistani nationals and Sharm el-Sheikh blasts," Haridy told Reuters.

"As far as Pakistan is concerned, it is categorically denied, and about other foreign nationals the investigations are going on," he added.

Egyptian security sources had said that police were searching for the Pakistanis to find out why they had disappeared after the bombings. Haridy said the six Pakistanis were being sought for their own security. "This is a routine security check that happens anywhere in the world."

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally of the U.S. in the region, has said there is no evidence so far to link the London attacks to Pakistan, although visits by at least two of the bombers to the country are under investigation.

In his turn, Foreign Office Spokesman Mohammad Naeem Khan stated this at the weekly news briefing. He was replying to questions about the alleged involvement of Pakistanis in the bomb attacks in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm al Sheikh. “We are in touch with our mission in Cairo and we have not been approached by the Egyptian government in this regard,” Mr Khan was quoted as saying by The Pakistan Dawn.

The news of suspected involvement of Pakistanis in the Sharm el-Sheikh blasts came after Pakistani officials bridled at media reports linking Pakistan to the July 7 bomb attacks on London that killed at least 56 people.

Three of the four London bombers were Britons of Pakistani origin and the fourth was a Briton of Jamaican origin.