By LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writer 16 minutes ago
CAIRO, Egypt - As many as seven explosions, including at least four car bombs, struck the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik early Saturday, hitting several hotels packed with foreign and Egyptian tourists and killing at least 36 people, witnesses and police said.
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Saturday's explosions at 1:15 a.m. shook windows more than five miles away. Smoke and fire rose from Naama Bay, a main strip of beach hotels in the desert city popular with Israeli and European tourists, witnesses said.
At least four car bombs were used in the attacks, said a security official in the operations control room in Cairo monitoring the crisis. One went off in the driveway of the Ghazala Garden hotel, a 176-room four-star resort on the main strip of hotels in Naama Bay, the official said.
Another exploded in the Old Market, a few miles away, killing 17 people — believed to be Egyptians — sitting at a nearby outdoor coffee shop. Three minibuses were set ablaze, though it was not clear if they were carrying passengers, the official said.
Although many tourists could have been asleep when the explosions struck, local residents would have been awake and out in the bazaar to enjoy of the evening.
A police official in Sharm el-Sheik said at least 36 people were killed and 150 wounded in what may have been as many as seven blasts, three in Naama Bay and four in the Old Market.
Amal Mustafa, 28, an Egyptian who was visiting with her family, said she drove by the Ghazala Garden and it was "completely burned down, destroyed."
Khaled Sakran, a resident, said he saw one explosion from the Old Market. "I saw the saw the fire in the sky," he told The Associated Press. "Right after, I saw a light in the sky and heard another explosion, coming from Naama Bay."
"The blast shook my house, I can see the fire and lots of smoke," Akram al-Sherif, a Jordanian who was staying at a summer house less than a mile away, said.
Adam Butler, a British photographer who lives in a town almost six miles from the explosions, said he heard at least three blasts.
"I heard a massive huge rattle on my windows. I saw a huge plume of white smoke," he said.
Butler said he rushed to the city and saw all the windows were blown out at the modern Tiran Center shopping complex opposite the old market. He said he was knocked to the ground by angry residents, who smashed his cameras and kicked and punched him.
In October 2004, a series of explosions hit several hotels in the Sinai resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan, about 100 miles northwest along the Gulf of Aqaba coast, killing 34 people. Egyptian authorities said that attack was linked to Israeli-Palestinian violence and launched a large wave of arrests in Sinai.
Thousands of tourists are drawn to Sharm for its sun and clear blue water. The area's coral reefs are famous among divers and snorkelers.
It also has been a meeting place where world leaders have tried to hammer out a Mideast peace agreement. Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas met there in February and agreed to a cease-fire.
