Some 70 people are being questioned by Egyptian authorities following yestrday's bomb attacks on a tourist resort which claimed the lives of 88 people.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said the killings in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh would only serve to stiffen his resolve to combat militants.
Bombs ripped through shopping and hotel areas of the popular resort in Egypt's worst attack since 1981. Shaken tourists spoke of mass panic and hysteria as people fled the carnage in the early hours of Saturday morning, with bodies strewn across the roads, people screaming and sirens wailing.
"This will only make us more determined to pursue terrorism and dig it out by the roots," Mubarek said in a short statement read on television. "We will not give in to its blackmail, or seek a truce."
The regional governor said two car bombs and possibly a suitcase bomb had rocked the resort, popular with divers, European holidaymakers and statesmen who have attended world summits in the place Egypt has called "the city of peace."
Egyptian Interior Minister Habib el-Adli said it was too early to say whether al Qaeda or other Islamist groups had any connection with the bombings but he said there was probably a link with attacks further north last October.
A group claiming links to al Qaeda said Saturday's bombings were revenge for "crimes committed against Muslims". But the Internet statement did not appear on major al Qaeda Web sites and it was impossible to authenticate the claim.
Local investigators are also examining the possibility that foreigners carried out the attacks that levelled the reception area of the luxury Ghazala Garden Hotel in the Naama Bay district and ripped apart a coffee house crowded with Egyptians in the nearby Old Market.
Police arrested 35 people in the Sharm el-Sheikh area, security sources said, and there were further detentions in the capital, Cairo.
None of those detained has been accused of involvement in Egypt's deadliest-ever terror attack, said security officials.
The sweep is similar to police operations after last October's attacks at the Sinai resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan, when 3,000 people were detained and many complained of torture.
Some 200 of those are believed to still be in custody, including two Egyptian suspects whose trial is set to resume.