Terror Bombings Hit Egypt

Terror Bombings Hit Egypt

Roei Avisaf's mother Rachael (2nd R), sister Bosmat (2nd L) and father Ruben mourn during his funeral in the Israeli town of Kfar Saba. Roei was killed when a series of bomb attacks hit the Hilton hotel at the Taba resort in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

Photo by Odd Andersen / AFP Photo

A total of 32 people were killed in Thursday night's (Oct 7) terror attacks on two Sinai holiday resorts frequented by Israelis: 29 at the Taba Hilton and three at Ras a-Satan. Twelve Israelis were killed and over 120 wounded.

Among the other victims are Egyptians and tourists from Russia and Italy. The large number of body parts, as well as the badly damaged state of the bodies are making it difficult to determine the exact number of fatalities.

The most devastating attack occurred at around 22:00 when a blast ripped through the Hilton Hotel in the resort town of Taba, near the border with Israel. The powerful blast was caused by car bomb which exploded at the entrance to the hotel, containing an estimated 250-300 kg of explosives, causing the collapse of part of the hotel. Reports indicate that a female suicide bomber also blew herself up near the hotel pool.

At about 23:30, two additional explosions occurred in the camping area of of Ras a-Satan, located about 45 kilometers south.

Immediately after the attacks, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom asked his Egyptian counterpart for permission to fly Israeli rescue workers into Sinai. He also asked the Egyptian foreign minister for permission to allow Israelis to pass through the border crossing without passport checks and to send between 20 and 30 buses to the Sinai to bring home the Israelis in the area, Foreign Ministry spokesman Gideon Meir said.

A rescue team from Israel's Home Front Command arrived at the scene of the attacks in Taba and along with the other rescue teams is working to evacuate the injured. The head of the Home Front Command, Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh, is responsible for coordinating the Israeli rescue effort in Taba.

(Source: Israeli Foreign Ministry)

Russian Foreign Ministry Says Attacks in Egypt
Planned by Extremists

Relatives of two Italian victims mourn near the rubble of the Taba Hilton, on Egypt's border with Israel after a car bomb sheared off a big chunk of the hotel. Egyptian police have rounded up some 15 Sinai Bedouin on suspicion they helped smuggle in the explosives used to kill at least 33 people at Red Sea resorts frequented by Israelis, security sources said on Sunday.

Photo by Ofer Vaknin / Reuters Photo

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Foreign Ministry said the terrorist attacks in Egypt were "a well planed attack by extremists."

"We resolutely condemn the terrorist attacks in Egypt which resulted in the deaths of many people of different nationalities and religions," a spokesman for the ministry's press and information department said. "This criminal and very well planned attack by extremists has confirmed once again the need to pool the efforts of the entire world community to effectively combat this universal evil."

According to the ministry's preliminary data, the explosions in Egypt killed one Russian and injured eight, 150 Russians were at the resort.

On Thursday night, several explosions occurred in Egyptian resort areas Taba, Ras Sultan, Muhamayat al-Tarabin and Noweiba. The victims were brought to several Egyptian hospitals and some of the injured were sent to hospitals in neighboring Israel.