Cairo – A series of explosions ripped the Egyptian resort town of Dahab on Monday night, killing at least 22 people, injuring more than 150 and raising suspicions that Islamist militants had once again taken aim at the tourist-laden Sinai Peninsula.
Three near-simultaneous blasts, which centered on a crowded hotel quarter packed with restaurants, nightclubs and bars, shattered the balmy desert evening just after 7 p.m., when the streets of the seaside town were packed with foreign tourists and Egyptian visitors strolling, shopping and dining.
Witnesses reported chaotic scenes of screaming, bloodied victims, billowing smoke and, in some cases, long waits for emergency help to arrive. Small local hospitals and clinics were quickly overwhelmed with the wounded.
Most of the seriously injured were transported to the larger town of Sharm el-Sheikh, a Red Sea resort that was itself targeted by militants in an attack last July that killed 64 people.
Nine months before that attack, nearly three dozen people were killed in similar blasts in the resorts of Taba and Ras Shaitan, close to the Israeli border.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for Monday’s explosions, but Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak described them as an act of terrorism.
“The president stressed the need to … hunt down those responsible for this wicked terrorist act, so that they pay the penalty by force of law,” the state-run Middle East News Agency said.
Denunciations came as well from the Hamas-led Palestinian government, which last week refused to condemn a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv carried out by the militant group Islamic Jihad. Nine people were killed in that attack, plus the bomber.
Dahab, a former Bedouin village on the Gulf of Aqaba about 65 miles south of the Israeli border, draws a low-key crowd that includes scuba divers, European sun-seekers and backpackers looking to escape the package- tour atmosphere of Sharm el-Sheikh, a short drive to the south.
The explosions hit Dahab at 7:15 p.m. when the streets were jammed with tourists strolling, shopping or looking for a restaurant or bar for evening festivities by the tranquil waters of the Gulf of Aqaba.
“There were just three loud bangs and people rushing around,” British tourist Paul McBeath told Sky News. “Everybody is shaken.”
Another witness said the Al Capone restaurant, one of the area’s most popular spots, was destroyed.
“The tables and chairs have gone; there is nothing left,” Joseph Nazir, who owns a safari company in Dahab, told Britain’s Press Association.
The blasts occurred during Egypt’s five-day national springtime festival of Shamm el- Nessim and also fell on Easter weekend for Christians who follow Eastern rites, including Egypt’s Coptic Christians. The attack coincided as well with the height of the tourist season in the Sinai, which typically sees a rush of foreign visitors before blistering summer temperatures set in.
The two other major attacks in the Sinai Peninsula during the past 18 months were blamed by Egyptian authorities on local militants without ties to international organizations. However, intelligence agencies in other countries said they suspected involvement by al-Qaeda.
No Israelis were thought to be among the dead Monday, but several were injured, according to Israel’s Channel 10. Israel placed its forces in southern Israel on high alert in the wake of the attack.
The bombing took place a day after the airing of a videotape by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, in which he accused the West of waging “war on Islam” and asserted that ordinary Western citizens were legitimate targets.
However, two Israeli security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they doubted Monday’s attack was linked to the videotape because it would have taken time to plan and execute the triple bombings.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
