TABA, Egypt (7 Oct 2004) -- Three bomb blasts late Thursday rocked Egyptian resorts where Israelis were vacationing during Jewish holidays, killing about 40 people and wounding more than 100. The most powerful explosion ripped through the 400-room Hilton Hotel at Taba, a Red Sea resort just across Egypt's border with Israel. One witness described the blast as the "gates of hell." There has been no claim of responsibility for the attacks. "The whole front of the hotel has collapsed. There are dozens of people on the floor, lots of blood. It is very tense," witness Yigal Vakni told Israel's Army Radio. "I am standing outside of the hotel, the whole thing is burning and they have nothing to put it out with." "We know of other people trapped under the ruins of the hotel," said a rescue worker spokesman. At least 36 people were killed in that bombing and more than 120 wounded, with emergency vehicles carrying Israelis across the border for treatment, Israeli officials said. The British Foreign Office said two Britons were among those wounded, but their injuries were not serious. Mustafa Afifi, the governor of the Sinai Peninsula, told Egyptian television that its hospitals received three dead -- two Egyptians and one Israeli -- and 13 wounded. The bombing marks the deadliest attack on an Israeli target outside of Israel. Israeli police sources said the blast was the work of a car bomb, but Egyptian officials said authorities were still working to determine the exact source of the explosion, although they are calling it an attack on the hotel. Israeli media reported a burned-out car was found at the scene, and Israeli police officials said forensic scientists were sent to the scene. About two hours after the attack, two other bombs went off in nearby camping areas in Ras al Sultan and the village of Tarabeen near Nuweibi, Israeli radio said. Afifi said those blasts were the result of truck bombs that killed at least two people -- an Egyptian and an Israeli. Ten others were wounded in the attacks, he said. In Taba, dozens of ambulances and emergency vehicles were on the scene shortly after the blast, and police cordoned off streets around the Hilton. Video showed dazed people walking while emergency crews scrambled to tend to the wounded. Jacob Hart, the deputy director of the Josftal Hospital in Eilat, told reporters they had received 80 wounded. | | A victim of the Hilton Hotel explosion in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. (Reuters) "The most severe cases are still in the area of the hotel," he said, adding that the hospital was told to prepare for more wounded. The Israeli government had warned its citizens against traveling to the Sinai Peninsula during the holidays due to the potential threat of terrorist attacks. Immediately following the explosions Thursday, the government requested that Israeli citizens in Egypt be allowed quick entry back into Israel without passport examinations. At least two Israeli helicopters carrying medics were allowed to enter Egypt to tend to the wounded. Israeli consular officials were being allowed to fly from Cairo to Taba. Itzik Hai, the manager of the Israeli side of the border crossing at Eilat and Taba, told Israeli radio they were "moving ambulances there as best we can." "Egyptians are allowing people to cross back into Israel," he said. "We're in contact with Egyptian officials on the other side of the border and coordinating with them." He said 30,000 Israelis had crossed the border into Egypt for the start of the holidays and that about 10,000 were believed to still be there. "We're allowing all to cross back, with or without passports," Hai said. The Hilton Hotel offers views into Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Israel, and is popular among Israeli vacationers celebrating Sukkot. Thursday marked the end of Sukkot and the beginning of Simchat Torah, which celebrates the Torah. Thursday's bombings brought to mind the November 2002 attack in in the Kenyan city of Mombasa when three suicide bombers blew up the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel, killing 12 people. That blast came just after assailants fired two missiles at an Israeli charter plane carrying 271 people but missed their target. Those attacks were blamed on al Qaeda. SOURCE - CNN, Reuters |
