Re: Bombings in Egypt resorts kill at least 20
Don’t worry, the Egyptians are probably just racists…
Egypt hunts Pakistanis over bombs
Grainy photos have been released of the Pakistani suspects
Egyptian police are searching for six Pakistani nationals in connection with the triple bombing at Sharm al-Sheikh.
They have distributed photographs of the six, who disappeared from a hotel in Cairo earlier this month.
The confirmed death toll stands at 64, although hospital officials say the figure could be as high as 88.
Police have arrested scores of Bedouin for questioning, as investigators pursued links with an attack on tourists in eastern Sinai last year.
Unnamed Egyptian security sources say police have surrounded two Bedouin villages near Sharm al-Sheikh - Ruweisat and Khurum - where they believe two of the Pakistani men may be hiding.
Police have clarified that the six missing Pakistanis disappeared before the bombings, and were not staying at a hotel in Sharm al-Sheikh, as previously reported.
Arabic TV networks have shown grainy pictures of two of the missing men and named them as Muhammad Akhtar, 30, and Tasadduq Husayn, 18.
No precedent
Correspondents say the involvement of Pakistanis would be unprecedented. Foreign nationals have only rarely been linked to attacks on tourists in Egypt.
A Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman said Egypt had not officially contacted Islamabad about the incident.
Investigators have been picking over the debris from the bombings
Ministry spokesman Naeem Khan said Pakistan did not know the Egyptian government’s position on the possible involvement of Pakistanis in the bombings.
Investigators have been trying to determine whether the bombers had helped stage the attacks in the nearby Red Sea resort of Taba last October.
DNA samples are being compared with those of detained suspects to establish any possible connections.
Investigators have said there were two car bombs in Saturday’s attack - the one outside the Ghazala Gardens and another in the Old Market area. A third bomb, set off in a parking area near the hotel, had been placed inside a suitcase.
Security officials told the Associated Press news agency that three attackers escaped before the blasts - one man who planted the suitcase bomb and two others who left the car bomb in the Old Market.
Most of those who died were Egyptian, although at least eight foreigners were killed.
Various reports say they include people of Turkish, Czech, Netherlands, Russian and Ukrainian nationality. One Israeli Arab is also thought to be among the dead.
The British Embassy in Cairo said one Briton was known to have died in the bombings.
Another 10 still missing are of “particular concern”, the British Ambassador Sir Derek Plumbly has said.
Peace march
In Sharm al-Sheikh, known in Egypt as the “City of Peace”, hundreds of people marched through the Naama Bay area on Sunday evening in protest against the attacks.
They marched past the wreckage of the four-star Ghazala Gardens hotel, which is concealed behind a high, white tarpaulin.
Hotel workers, diving instructors and other local employees joined the march, lighting candles as night fell. They chanted slogans in support of peace and held banners which read “No to terrorism”.
The BBC’s Heba Saleh in Sharm al-Sheikh says the event was intended to send the message that the resort remains a welcoming place, but there was no mistaking the strength of the feelings expressed.
Two Islamist groups, one asserting links to al-Qaeda, have made unverified claims of responsibility for the attacks.
October’s bombings killed 34 people, including many Israelis. It was seen as an offshoot of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, and blamed by Egypt on disaffected Palestinians and local Bedouins.
The previous worst attack in Egypt was in 1997, when Islamic militants killed 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians near the southern city of Luxor.
The tourism industry - Egypt’s most lucrative - has slowly recovered since that attack, but there are widespread fears that these latest bombings will deal it a fresh blow.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4713723.stm
