2004 Sinai bombings

Infobox terrorist attack
title=2004 Sinai bombings
location=Taba and Nuweiba, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
target=hotels popular with tourists
date=7 October, 2004
type=car bombings
fatalities=34
injuries=171
perps=masterminded by Iyad Saleh and carried out by a Palestinian group
motive=presumably the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The 2004 Sinai bombings were three bomb attacks targeting tourist hotels in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, on October 7, 2004. The attacks killed 34 people and injured 171.

The bombings

The explosions occurred on the night of October 7, against the Hilton Taba and campsites used by Israelis in Ras al-Shitan. In the Taba attack, a truck drove into the lobby of the Taba Hilton and exploded, killing 31 people and wounding some 159 others. Ten floors of the hotel collapsed following the blast. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3728436.stm Death toll rises in Egypt blasts] BBC News]

Some 50 kilometers (31 miles) south, at campsites at Ras al-Shitan, near Nuweiba, two more bombings happened. A car parked in front of a restaurant at the Moon Island resort exploded, killing two Israelis and a Bedouin. Twelve were wounded. Another blast happened moments later, targeting the Baddiyah camp, but did not harm anyone because the bomber had apparently been scared off from entering the campground by a guard. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3732098.stm Taba attacks Shatter Sinai Tourism] BBC News ]

Of the dead, 15 were Egyptians, 12 were from Israel, two from Italy, one from Russia, and one was an Israeli-American.

The investigation

According to the Egyptian government, the bombers were Palestinians who had tried to enter Israel to carry out attacks there but were unsuccessful. The mastermind, Iyad Saleh, recruited Egyptians and Bedouins to gain explosives to be used in the attacks. Beginning in March 2004, the bombers used washing machine timers, mobile phones and modified gas cylinders to build the bombs. They used TNT and old explosives found in the Sinai (as it was many times a war zone), which were purchased from Bedouins, to complete the bombs. [ [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3066976,00.html Sinai attackers failed to enter Israel] Ynet]

Egypt has said that Saleh and one of his aides, Suleiman Ahmed Saleh Flayfil, died in the Hilton blast, apparently because their bomb timer had run out too fast. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60833-2004Oct25.html Egypt jails five in Sinai attacks] Washington Post] Three Egyptians, Younes Mohammed Mahmoud, Osama al-Nakhlawi, and Mohammed Jaez Sabbah were sentenced to death in November 2006 for their roles in the blast. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/30/AR2006113000792.html Egyptian Court Condemns 3 Militants] Washington Post] . Egypt arrested up to 2,400 people following the attacks. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4287445.stm Mass arrests after Sinai bombs] BBC News]

According to investigators, there is no strong link to al-Qaeda in the blasts.

Aftermath

Israel had warned in September 2004 that terrorists were planning attacks in the Sinai, but most Israelis did not heed those warnings and went on vacation there instead. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3727812.stm Security questions over Sinai attacks] BBC News] Many Israelis left the Sinai after the bombings, along with some foreign tourists, but the effects on the country's tourism were not too severe.

Militants struck again in Cairo at tourists in April 2005, killing three and wounding several. Resorts in Sharm el-Sheikh were bombed in a similar attack in July 2005 and in Dahab in 2006.

References

ee also

*April 2005 Cairo attacks
*July 2005 Sharm el-Sheikh attacks
*2006 Dahab bombings