Dozens killed as terror shatters Dahab calm

3 Israelis reported among hundreds wounded
Al-Qaida blamed for three blasts at tourist sites

By Rafael D. Frankel and Yaakov Katz

Three powerful explosions rocked the Egyptian resort town of Dahab last night killing at least 30 people and wounding hundreds, many of them foreigners, in the third terrorist attack on the Sinai Peninsula in the last 18 months, Egyptian officials said.

As of press time, three Israelis were reportedly wounded in the blast, Israel Radio said, though information was emerging slowly from the scene and phone calls into Dahab were not going through.

It is the height of the tourist season in Sinai, and police said bombs ripped through the central part of the city, packed with thousands of people eating dinner and strolling through the open- air markets shortly after nightfall.

A restaurant, a market and a hotel were hit in timed explosions that detonated shortly after 7 p.m., within five minutes of each other, Al-Jazeera television reported.

There was no claim of responsibility as of press time, but al- Qaida and its affiliates were responsible for the previous attacks and they are the likely suspects once again, Israeli security officials said.

The National Security Council's counterterrorism division has issued multiple warnings against traveling to Sinai for the holiday season, saying there was specific intelligence that Islamic terrorists were planning attacks and possibly kidnappings of Israeli citizens there and in other Arab countries.

"Unfortunately, the warnings came true," Ambassador to Egypt Shalom Cohen said on Channel 10 last night.

A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said four people from the Cairo Embassy were dispatched to Dahab to identify if Israelis were among the dead and wounded.

At the Taba border, seven ambulances stood at the ready to cross into Egypt to treat the wounded, as well as move any casualties to Josephthal Hospital in Eilat. Police cars also lined the border as did army vehicles and fire trucks.

Israeli offers to assist further were declined by the Egyptians who said the situation was under control, the spokeswoman said. The Taba border was closed to civilians.

The Interior Ministry said that all Israelis would be allowed to enter Israel via the Taba border, even if they were not carrying their passports with them. The ministry said those without passports would go through a brief interview before being granted immediate entry.

The Home Front Command's search and rescue teams were put on standby in case Egypt asked for assistance in searching for survivors in the rubble. By press time, the units had not been deployed and officers said that the likelihood that they would was slim. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz ordered the IDF to offer the Egyptians assistance.

Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert telephoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to express his condolences and those of the Israeli people. In the brief phone call, the two discussed the need to cooperate in the struggle against global terrorism, the Prime Minister's Office said.

The attacks, senior security officials said, were likely carried out by Global Jihad or al-Qaida cells known to be in Egypt and Jordan. Cells of terrorists affiliated with al-Qaida, one official said, were known to be operating in the hills and caves in the northern Sinai and were believed to have been behind the recent attacks in Sinai, including the bombings in Sharm e-Sheikh last July and Taba in October, 2004, which together killed more than 100 people.

Al-Qaida has also already tried setting a foothold in Israel. In February, OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh revealed that Global Jihad and al-Qaida terror cells based in Jordan had stepped up their attempts to infiltrate Israel and were in close contact with terror cells in the West Bank.

Dahab was once a common destination for Israeli tourists, but its popularity plummeted after the Taba and Sharm e-Sheikh attacks, and the continuous warnings from the government against traveling there.

Today, the town is a destination mostly frequented by Europeans on holiday and foreign backpackers making their way around the Middle East. The pristine waters and stunning aquatic life also make Dahab popular with scuba divers.

According to the Foreign Ministry, there are an estimated 5,000 Israelis in Sinai, and another 1,000 Jewish tourists.

The border reopened around 11 p.m. Two Israelis came through from Egypt on foot and another two were in a battered white car. It stalled as it came over and needed a jump start.

None of the Israelis had heard of the explosions until they were delayed at the border before it reopened.

"When we arrived at the border, they didn't let us through and we didn't understand," said one.

Eilat Mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevy said Josephthal Hospital was ready for emergency assistance and that the Club Hotel was prepared to host people over night if need be.

Among those stranded on the Israeli side of the border were 29 Russian Christian pilgrims who had come for Easter and were flying home out of Egypt. They were debating the wisdom of crossing into Egypt. Another 51 members of their group were in an Eilat hotel.

Michael Chen of the Tourism Ministry, who was on hand to help them leave, made light of his efforts by stating that typically "my job is to promote Eilat, not to evacuate it."

US President George W. Bush condemned the deadly explosions in the Dahab and vowed to bring the terrorists to justice.

"Today we saw again that the terrorists are willing to try to define the world the way they want to see it," Bush said during a fund-raising speech.

"I strongly condemn the killings that took place, the innocent life lost in Egypt. This is a heinous act against innocent civilians."

"The United States sends our condolences to the families of those who were killed," Bush said. "We keep those were injured in our thoughts and prayers, and I assure the enemy this: we will stay on the offense, we will not waver, we will not tire, we will bring you to justice for the sake of peace and humanity."

The attack, Jonathan Fighel, senior researcher at the International Policy Institute for Counterterrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, told The Jerusalem Post, was mostly likely perpetrated by a group related to al-Qaida which aimed to hit the Egyptian government through the economy.

"Hitting tourist sites is part of the strategy of al- Qaida," he said. "They are trying to destabilize moderate Islamic states that are cooperating with the US.

Herb Keinon, Orly Halpern, Tovah Lazaroff, Yigal Grayeff, Hilary Leila Krieger and AP contributed to this report.

©2006 The Jerusalem Post