Tourists flee Egyptian resort after bombings

Hundreds of foreign tourists left the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday after three bombs killed scores of people in…

Hundreds of foreign tourists left the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday after three bombs killed scores of people in the worst attack in Egypt since 1981.

Busloads of tourists streamed off buses at the Sharm al-Sheikh airport for flights back to European capitals.

Egyptian police stepped up roadblocks around the town at the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula and detained 93 people who might have information about the bombers.

Security officials said the attackers used 1,100 pounds of "highly explosive materials" inside two car bombs and a suitcase.

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They said more than half the explosives were packed inside a car at Sharm's old market. The second car levelled the front of the luxury Ghazala Garden hotel.

Officials gave conflicting figures for the number of casualties. An official source in Sharm el-Sheikh said the death toll was 88, but Minister of Health Mohamed Awad Tag el-Din said 63 died.

Most of the dead are Egyptians, but among the victims were seven non-Egyptians, including two Britons, a Czech and an Italian, the Tourism Ministry said. The nationalities of the others was not clear. Officials were identifying 34 of the victims.

Officials believe the group behind the bombs probably had links with those who attacked hotels in Sinai last year in which 34 people were killed.

Police are investigating whether Mohamed Ahmed Saleh Fulayfel, a fugitive accused of helping carry out bombings in Sinai in October, drove the vehicle which exploded in front of the Ghazala Gardens Hotel.

It was not clear whether the driver escaped before the explosion.