Bombs rock Egypt tourist hub

[Tranquility]

At least 36 people killed and over a 100 injured in a series of bombs in major Egyptian tourist resort, Sharm El Sheikh.

The resort is always packed with tourists from Europe, the US, Egyptians, and Israeli tourists.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A61D4049-5032-47D9-86BE-ED6C6921AF20.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4709491.stm

At least 36 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded in a string of explosions in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, police said.

Yet another sleepless night. :cry:

Glad my parents decided not to go to Sharm this year. They stayed in Alexandria instead.

[Tranquility]

Apparently so far reports claim that there were 7 blasts, but nobody's sure yet.

We need a Red Ken.

EDIT: Death toll risen to almost 50 now, as per the mayor of Sharm El Sheikh.

[Tranquility]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/07/23/egypt.explosions/index.html

Egyptian officials have claimed now that the death toll has risen to 83 individuals, mostly Egyptians, with more than 120 injured. There were 5 powerful blasts in total.

[Tranquility]

Al Qaeda linked group claims responsibility for the bombings:

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D24DDAE2-2AD6-40FB-B51E-1B2B2C193B7D.htm

Should I keep posting about this or is sympathy regarding terrorist bombings preserved for G8 nations?

[Cylinder]

This was a horrible attack, Tranqulity. I have just started getting some information about it. Thanks for the posts.

This was a Western tourist area, right?

[N C More]

Well, I have a great deal of sympathy for anyone attacked by terrorist bombers. This sort of thing is horrific. Ironically, I heard that the majority of people killed in this attack were Egyptian Muslims! These bombers are terrorists, they are not examples of how the vast majority Muslim people think and act. Everyone of all faiths, from all countries, need to come together and take a strong stand against these murderers! :evil:

[Cylinder]

This would be the first al Qaeda strictly civilian terrorist attack against Egypt, right? I have a pet theory I am developing about al Qaeda and future tactics.

[Tranquility]

This was a Western tourist area, right?

Yeah. It's a major summer tourist destination in Egypt along with Hurghada. Most of the tourists there are either European or Israeli. As N C More mentioned though, these attacks are indiscriminatory and the majority killed were Egyptians.

This would be the first al Qaeda strictly civilian terrorist attack against Egypt, right?

There was a terrorist attack in Taba last October, a tourist resort very close to the Israeli border, killing 36 people, mostly Israeli tourists, and our interior minister said there might be a link between the two incidents. If so, and if the group that claimed responsibility is really part of Al Qaeda, this would be the second Al Qaeda bombing in Egypt in a year. Prior to that, we had managed to throttle any sort of terrorist activity since 1997 in Luxor.

These bombers are terrorists, they are not examples of how the vast majority Muslim people think and act. Everyone of all faiths, from all countries, need to come together and take a strong stand against these murderers!

I don't think any faith urges killing of innocent civilians. Just goes to show that these criminals don't care who they hurt, and they ought to be demonized and disassociated from any values they seem to preach. Because they're murdering mongrels.

Al Qaeda linked group claims responsibility for the bombings:

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D24DDAE2-2AD6-40FB-B51E-1B2B2C193B7D.htm

Should I keep posting about this or is sympathy regarding terrorist bombings preserved for G8 nations?

By all means keep posting ... I think the majority of those here are horrified by such events no matter where they occur. My wife and I hope to still visit Egypt in November in spite of this event. The last time we planned a visit the tour company cancelled. Hopefully that will not happen this time.

[Tranquility]

By all means keep posting ... I think the majority of those here are horrified by such events no matter where they occur. My wife and I hope to still visit Egypt in November in spite of this event. The last time we planned a visit the tour company cancelled. Hopefully that will not happen this time.

Glad you still might go. If you need any info before going, drop me a line.

[Melusine]

Al Qaeda linked group claims responsibility for the bombings:

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D24DDAE2-2AD6-40FB-B51E-1B2B2C193B7D.htm

Should I keep posting about this or is sympathy regarding terrorist bombings preserved for G8 nations?
Quite the contrary; terrorism has been a "pet" interest of mine since 1998, but things like this get me angry, because I feel we've squandered time, money and lives over the last few years intstead of really focusing on the problem of terrorism. The War in Iraq hasn't helped a bit, but as this terroism experts notes in this Salon Interview (http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/07/19/london_attacks/index.html), the problem was burgeoning beforehand, which in 1998 I saw as becoming our #1 problem. Certainly in Britain this was apparent by the known number of terrorism-trainees residing within their borders. It takes good relations and Intel, country by country, to combat these criminals, and get at the root causes of the recruitments--we've wasted time and priorities, and there's no one place to go after these people. If you look at one of these sites below, it's sad that there are so many travel alerts--who wants to live in fear to travel around the world--to be vacationing and have one's life blown to pieces? I know somebody who went to Egypt and they were a bit nervous, but went, but I read somewhere even around the pyramids, tourism was down...it hurts the guy selling jewelry, giving tours...it has an effect on everybody. And now there are 83 or more familes who will be burying their loved ones.

So, yeah, the topic gets political and makes me :evil: , it's not a lack of concern or sympathy at all...just makes me feel powerless. And it's not just Al Qaeda, you've got Chechnya, those poor children in Beslan, parts all over Africa, the list goes on and on. :x

Here are a few terrorism info links:
http://cfrterrorism.org/home/
http://www.terrorism.com/
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/

[Cylinder]

Tranquility,

To address your concern about the apparent lack of care in the West about the attacks in Egypt. I think it is news-driven. Since the news networks have cut costs several years ago by removing their bureaus from around the world, it takes some time to get correspondents to the scene of the attack. Tonight, the news media are there and covering the story.

The timing of the attack, coming on the heels of the London attacks, probably also work to drive the story further from the spotlight.

There is also probably a cultural standard that comes in to play as well - which I will acknowledge - but I don't think this was the driving force. The Lebanese bombing that killed the former minister received top billing. It probably happened in a slow news cycle.

You're in the United States right now, aren't you?

[jt-3d]

I think it has to do with it being saturday and alot of the more prolific posters don't bother with forums on their weekend.

[Tranquility]

You're in the United States right now, aren't you?

Nope. I live in the Middle East.

[Tranquility]

Uh oh:

De sources proches de la sécurité, on a indiqué qu'au moins une voiture qui a explosé portait des plaques d'immatriculaton prouvant qu'elle avait franchi la frontière avec Israël à Taba.

http://fr.news.yahoo.com/050723/290/4ihyk.html

This basically says that security sources indicate that at least one of the explosive vehicles was with a license plate that proves that it had crossed the border with Israel through Taba.

Hopefully this isn't true. An Egyptian-Israeli clash is probably something neither country wants at the moment. It could not have been Palestinians going through this area for 2 reason:

1) They're not allowed to go inside any Israeli region aside from the Gaza strip.

2) The border we share with Palestine is in a region called Rafah, which is far away from Taba, and a Palestinian simply would not have been able to drive all the way down to Taba and it wouldn't have made sense to do so.

Anyway the interior minister is saying it's too early to blame Al Qaeda for the attacks.

[Melusine]

Tranquility, I presume from your comment above about Luxor, and the use of "we," that you are in Egypt. ?? I use this site here (http://www.allyoucanread.com/newspapers.asp?id=C15) to find papers from around the world, but I don't always know what the most popular papers are (it doesn't show a Top Ten for Egypt) or decent ones, plus I need some English version (though, I can read French a little). Anyway, I ended uphere (http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050724-032732-7725r) and here (http://www.sis.gov.eg/sharmbomb/html/index.htm). The first one mentions the Taba suspects, and they want to compare DNA to the suicide bomber. The nurse's comment...I have no idea what it would be like dealing with this--I have only once seen what looked like a dead person on the side of the road once after an motorcycle accident, and he just looked asleep. This is just horrible stuff.

Anyway, as I mentioned above, and this article (articlehttp://www.sis.gov.eg/sharmbomb/html/sh15.htm) with comments by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, I hope that tourism isn't severely impacted. At this point, with major cities and tourist places around the world having experienced these incidents, it shouldn't, and Egypt beefed up it's security around the pyramids, and other popular destinations, CNN was showing. That's why these psychos won't achieve anything--they pick spots like this, and they end up hurting the people in the cafe--it affects people's livelihoods (apart from the victims), it's an inconvenience on people's lives. And then, as you say, a Egypt-Israel clash is the last thing that's needed right now--if one thing terrorists are somewhat achieving, it is stirring up blame-games between various groups, and cool heads should prevail. My feeling has always been that the Israel-Palestine problem needed to be rectified years ago, though as these sites below indicate, it's not as if terrorism is anything new or will go away for good. I have relatives in Rome, so I wonder about something happening there again. I remember the 1985 airport incident well.

http://www.emergency-management.net/airterror_shoot.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/etc/cron.html

[Melusine]

Well, the BBC says they are now looking for six Pakistanis.

Egyptian police are searching for six Pakistani nationals in connection with the triple bombing at Sharm al-Sheikh.
They have distributed photographs of the six, who were said to be staying at the resort at the time of the attacks.

The confirmed death toll stands at 64, although hospital officials say the figure could be as high as 88.

Police have questioned more than 70 people over the bombings, while investigators pursue links with an attack on tourists in Sinai last year.

The six missing Pakistanis were staying at a hotel in Sharm al-Sheikh and had left their passports at the reception, police said.

Full article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4713723.stm

[Tranquility]

Tranquility, I presume from your comment above about Luxor, and the use of "we," that you are in Egypt. ??

I'm Egyptian, but right now I'm staying in another Middle Eastern country, the United Arab Emirates.

I'll try to dig up for you any English versions of the top Egyptian newspapers (didn't really think to look for them earlier as I only read the Arabic versions), but usually for these Middle Eastern events I found the Al Jazeera website to be invaluable in covering this type of events in the Middle East (when the events aren't part of an ongoing war).

http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage

But as I said I'll post back with the Egyptian news sources available in English.

I hope that tourism isn't severely impacted.

Actually we had a massive problem due to terrorism negatively impacting tourism. The last major terrorist incident in Egypt happened in 1997, where 58 foreign tourists were killed. We managed to really clamp down on terrorism after that, and we didn't have any problems until 2004. But tourism was in a steep decline right after 1997, which is a major problem because it is one of Egypt's major industries. Tourism started to pick up when the tourist resorts of Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh became more popular with European tourists, and they were flourishing over the past few years, but then two bombings in two years are going to damage tourism again.

[Melusine]

[quote=Melusine]Tranquility, I presume from your comment above about Luxor, and the use of "we," that you are in Egypt. ??

I'm Egyptian, but right now I'm staying in another Middle Eastern country, the United Arab Emirates.
I have a customer who will only buy some perfume in Dubai, go figure. There are some cool hotels there, but if you are there, Bloomberg reported (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aNXLtmyAFydE&refer=europe) that a threat to attack Dubai was posted on some Islamist web site, but local authorities, I read elsewhere, don't seem overly concerned.

I'll try to dig up for you any English versions of the top Egyptian newspapers (didn't really think to look for them earlier as I only read the Arabic versions), but usually for these Middle Eastern events I found the Al Jazeera website to be invaluable in covering this type of events in the Middle East (when the events aren't part of an ongoing war).

http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage
When I have used that English version of Al Jazeera (out of NY) on a political board, I've gotten knee-jerk reactions, but I haven't found it to be any more biased or not more than any other papers. Obviously, I can't read the Arab version, but I know it's not quite the same thing. Though that's another matter altogether.

Actually we had a massive problem due to terrorism negatively impacting tourism. The last major terrorist incident in Egypt happened in 1997, where 58 foreign tourists were killed.
That would be the Luxor incident. Tunisia, Bali...what vacation spot is safe? None really. I think it was good that all those people rallied in Sharm El Sheikh denouncing terrorism--it helps marginalize the fundamentalists.

[Tranquility]

I have a customer who will only buy some perfume in Dubai, go figure. There are some cool hotels there, but if you are there, Bloomberg reported (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aNXLtmyAFydE&refer=europe) that a threat to attack Dubai was posted on some Islamist web site, but local authorities, I read elsewhere, don't seem overly concerned.

Yep I stay in Dubai. Awesome place to live btw. It gets really hot in the summer, but it's so cosmopolitan and modern and open. Hotels are great too, Burj Al Arab was one of the first 7 star hotels in the world.

When I have used that English version of Al Jazeera (out of NY) on a political board, I've gotten knee-jerk reactions, but I haven't found it to be any more biased or not more than any other papers. Obviously, I can't read the Arab version, but I know it's not quite the same thing. Though that's another matter altogether.

Probably because of the POW situation in the Iraq war when they showed pictures and videos of American POWs as well as American soldiers who were killed in the war, but I didn't get the argument earlier that they were biased. I read both the English and Arabic version and I found both to have pretty fair reporting.

That would be the Luxor incident. Tunisia, Bali...what vacation spot is safe? None really. I think it was good that all those people rallied in Sharm El Sheikh denouncing terrorism--it helps marginalize the fundamentalists.

Yup, Luxor.
These fundamentalists have been marginalized for a long time because everyone knows that they kill indiscriminately.

[Melusine]

Yep I stay in Dubai. Awesome place to live btw. It gets really hot in the summer, but it's so cosmopolitan and modern and open. Hotels are great too, Burj Al Arab was one of the first 7 star hotels in the world.

Off topic: Yeah, that's the one I was primarily thinking of. A couple of years ago an email went around with pictures of its interior--talk about dripping opulence! I remember it costs about $75 USD to just go to look at it. I wouldn't mind staying there. :D

Image page (http://images.google.com/images?q=Burj+Al+Arab+&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=ii&oi=im agest)
www.burj-al-arab.com

[Tranquility]

Heh yeah you need to buy like 70$ just to go in and take a tour of the place.

Food there is stupidly expensive. A friend of mine went there with a date once after saving up for like 3 months :D

The deluxe king one bedroom costs over 700$ a night. Is the elixir of life bundled with the price of the room :-? ?