Egypt: Israeli rescue workers yesterday continued to dig through the rubble of the devastated Hilton Hotel in Taba, on the Egyptian border with Israel, and Israelis rushed back home across the border after at least 29 people were killed in bomb attacks at two resorts in the Sinai desert on Thursday night.
Israeli army rescue personnel at the Taba hotel, where the explosion caused 10 storeys to collapse, said there might be as many as 20 people still trapped below the rubble. They were sceptical, however, of pulling anyone out alive.
Many of the dead were expected to be Israelis who were holidaying at the hotel. Egyptian hotel staff and other tourists were also thought to be among the fatalities. There were also reports of some British and American tourists injured in the Taba blast, which security experts said was most likely the result of a powerful car bomb.
Two Israelis were killed in the second attack, which was carried out almost simultaneously with the Taba bombing, at Ras Satan, a beach camping area near Nuweiba, about 55 kms south of Taba. Up to 15,000 Israelis were holidaying in Sinai over the Jewish harvest holiday of Sukkot at the time of the bombings.
As of last night, there had been no credible claims of responsibility for the attack, although several officials in Israel quickly pointed to al-Qaeda. Military intelligence chief Maj Gen Aharon Zeevi-Farkash reportedly told the cabinet at a special session in Jerusalem yesterday that the attacks were most likely the work of Osama Bin Laden's group.
Deputy defence minister Mr Ze'ev Boim appeared to rule out the possibility that Palestinian militants might be behind the attacks: "On the face of things, this is different from what we are familiar with from the Palestinian terrorist groups," he said.
Egyptian officials were more circumspect. "This is a terrorist attack but who did it? We can't tell as the investigation has just begun," said Egyptian foreign minister Mr Ahmed Aboul Gheit, in Cairo.
Over 100 Israelis injured in the attacks were brought back to Israel for treatment, most of them by Israeli ambulances that crossed the border into Egypt after the bombings. But Israeli rescue workers, who by yesterday were running the operation at Taba, complained that they had initially been held up at the border by Egyptian officials and that precious minutes had passed until they were allowed to head for the hotel, located just on the other side of the crossing.
An Israeli fire-fighting official, Mr Shimon Romach, said yesterday morning that the Egyptians had brought in a unit of firefighters "who did not have the proper equipment and the Egyptian government is not allowing us to bring in our heavy equipment." But an Egyptian government spokesman, Mr Magdy Rady, denied there had been any delay, saying there was "no such thing - no delay at all. Don't believe the Israelis." Israeli officials yesterday ordered rescue workers to refrain from criticising the Egyptian authorities out of concern it might further impede the rescue effort.
The office of Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon, meanwhile, said that the Israeli leader and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had spoken by phone and had agreed to fight terrorism together. Israeli security officials were said to be participating in the investigation into the attacks along with their Egyptian counterparts.
A top aide to Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat yesterday said the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip was the motivation for the Sinai bombings. "The continuation of Israel's occupation and the aggressions fuel the world's anger," said Mr Nabil Abu Rudeineh, who was also referring to an ongoing Israeli military operation in Gaza that has killed dozens of Palestinians.
World leaders rushed to condemn the bombings. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said "no cause can justify acts of terror perpetrated against civilians." The sites of the attacks, he added, have represented "tangible examples of peaceful coexistence in the Middle East".