In the aftermath of Monday's bloodbath in Luxor, stunned Egyptians were asking questions. Why was the security around the area so lax? Which officials bore responsibility for lack of police response? How could such murderers claim to be acting in the name of religion?
Perhaps the most compelling questions of all, however, surround the attackers themselves. For although Egypt's largest militant group, the Gama'a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group), claimed responsibility for the attack yesterday, the scale and sheer brutality of the killing is a marked departure.
Eyewitness accounts of the killers dancing among the corpses as they cut throats and mutilated bodies bring to mind Algerian-style death squads, rather than the less dramatic Gama'a attacks which usually include shooting at tourist boats or attacking hotels and buses.
The attackers themselves, all of whom the government claims to have killed, left somewhat contradictory evidence as to their aims. Leaflets left at the scene of the carnage read, "No to tourists in Egypt - Omar Abdel-Rahman's Squadron of Havoc and Destruction".
Abdel-Rahman is the cleric regarded as the spiritual leader of the Gama'a. In yesterday's statement, the Gama'a said it wanted to take tourists hostage and to gain freedom for the ageing sheikh, who is in jail in the United States.
Yet his aide, Ahmed Abdel-Sattar, told American journalists that the Islamic Group does not target tourists. If it claims responsibility for Monday's violence this is a major policy change.
Abdel-Sattar's statements are similar to previous interviews with Gama'a members, who claim that they aim to kill tourism rather than tourists.
Analysts in Cairo were speculating yesterday as to why this change came about. Some see the savagery of the attack as proof that the organisation has regenerated itself. Others see the sign of an outside hand in the operation.
"There was a mastermind behind this operation, perhaps from outside Egypt," said Dr Nabil Abdel Fattah, an academic specialising in Islamist movements. "We haven't seen anything like it before."
Another opinion is that the killers were more likely from a renegade splinter group. Its proponents contend that the command structure of the Gama'a has been all but destroyed by the government and that smaller, more radical groups are emerging in its stead.
Some evidence of this was seen when the jailed leadership of the organisation called for a cease-fire with the government this summer. The offer was immediately rejected by the both the government and Gama'a leaders outside Egypt. The initiative was widely seen as having discredited the moderates, leaving the rank-and-file of the group open to more radical influences.
"Those in prison don't control the armed factions any more, said one analyst, who asked that his name not be used. They receive their orders from operatives living abroad in Europe, the United States, Afghanistan - wherever.
Given the shadowy nature of terrorist organisations and the less-than-transparent nature of Egyptian government, the truth behind Monday's slaughter may never be known.