Three explosions that killed at least 23 people in the Egyptian Sinai resort of Dahab were probably from time bombs planted on the ground, a security official said today.
A security source today said that 10 people, all of them Egyptians, had been detained in connection with Monday's bombings, but gave no details on what their involvement may have been or if they were connected to a specific group.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, but the attack bore many of the hallmarks of a group that has set off two other clusters of bombs on Egypt's Red Sea coast in the past two years.
Sixty-two people were also wounded in the bombings. The Egyptian Interior Ministry said a young German boy was killed in the explosions, along with two other foreigners and 20 Egyptians. No Irish people are believed to be among the casualties.
"These were bombs that contained gunpowder and nails and were fitted with timers," said an official. "It was very crowded and that's what increased the number of casualties."
A witness said that when he went to one of the locations moments after the explosions he saw no remains of anyone who might have been the bomber.
The governor of South Sinai province, Mohamed Hani, had said last night that he thought suicide bombers were responsible. The Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television today quoted a security source as saying that at least two suicide bombers had died in the blasts.
The injured included about 40 Egyptians, three Danes, three Britons, two Italians, two Germans, two French people, a South Korean, a Lebanese, a Palestinian, an American, an Israeli and an Australian, the Interior Ministry said.
It was the third set of attacks in Sinai since October 2004, when a small Sinai-based group attacked the Hilton hotel in the Taba resort, close to the Israeli border, and two beach camps.
The attacks on Taba, and then the upmarket resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to the south in July 2005, killed 67 people.
The target this time was the budget resort of Dahab, a beach and diving centre popular with backpackers.
In all cases, three bombs went off within minutes of each other on the evening of a holiday. In some cases the bombers used trucks; in others they left explosives in suitcases.
Witnesses who saw the damage in Sharm el-Sheikh said the bombs appeared to be smaller this time. Several government officials called the devices simple or primitive.