EGYPT: Egyptian police detained at least 10 people, including computer engineers yesterday in connection with a triple bombing that killed at least 18 people and wounded scores in the Red Sea tourist resort of Dahab.
Security sources provided few details on those detained, but the state Mena news agency said two of them were computer engineers who arrived in Dahab from Cairo the day before the nearly simultaneous blasts on Monday evening.
Foreign holidaymakers described scenes of carnage caused by the bombings near a cafe, a restaurant and a supermarket in the tightly packed streets of the town, popular with scuba divers and backpackers.
Egypt's Interior Ministry confirmed 18 deaths, among them four foreigners - a Russian, a Swiss man, a German child and a Lebanese national. Earlier, the ministry put the death toll at 23. Lebanese authorities said they knew of no nationals killed.
The bombings, the third similar-style attack in the Sinai peninsula in the past 18 months, threatened to dent Egypt's vital tourist industry, which brings in more than $7 billion (€5.6 billion) a year and employs around 10 percent of the country's workforce.
As well as those detained, police said some 70 local Bedouin had been pulled in for questioning. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, though it bore hallmarks of past blasts in the region.
A little-known Sinai-based group is believed to have carried out two other similar attacks on the east coast of Sinai in the last two years, killing 100 people - one in the resort of Taba in October, 2004, and the other at Sharm el-Sheikh in July 2005.
However, disaffected-bedouin security experts played down possible links to external militant groups such as al Qaeda but say they may serve as inspiration for the local attackers, who are believed to be drawn from disaffected Bedouin in the Sinai.
Despite the severity of the attack, which wounded about 80 people and left body parts scattered on the tops of nearby buildings, many tourists said they planned to stay on in Dahab.
Trails of blood remained on a stretch of Dahab's promenade, which is lined with restaurants. In other places, shopkeepers washed away bloodstains with salt and water and went to work.
Security officials said the explosions were probably caused by bombs attached to timers rather than by suicide bombers. Forensics experts completed their investigations yesterday but gave no details on what they had collected.
Meanwhile, Europe's two largest tourism firms, TUI and Thomas Cook, said just four customers wanted to cut short their holidays in the region.
Details concerning the type of explosive devices used in the attack has emerged with security officials saying the bombs were primitive and looked home-made. "These were bombs that contained gunpowder and nails and were fitted with timers," said one official."
The wounded, include some 50 Egyptians, three Danes, three Britons, two Italians, two Germans, two French people, a Palestinian and one American, local and foreign officials said. (Additional reporting by James Regan)