Egypt hunts 6 Pakistani resort bombing suspects

SHARM EL-SHEIKH – Egypt was yesterday hunting for six Pakistani nationals suspected of involvement in the devastating multiple bombings in the Red Sea resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh, police said.

Pictures of the suspects, who are believed to have entered Egypt in early July, were distributed to police stations in the Sharm-el-Sheikh area, police in Cairo said. Their passports were found in an unspecified Sharm el-Sheikh hotel, police said, adding that one of them may have died in the deadly bombings but stressing that the Pakistanis were not necessarily the bombers.According to hospital officials, the multiple bombings – Egypt’s deadliest ever terrorist attacks – killed 88 people but the health and tourism ministries have reported only up to 64 confirmed dead.The resort was packed with tourists when the pre-dawn bombs went off and foreign embassy officials were still in Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday, as more than 30 bodies were still to be identified and foreigners continued to scramble for flights home.At least 95 people have been arrested in a police dragnet as part of a massive search for the perpetrators of the triple attack on a hotel, a market and a parking lot that came on the heels of deadly bombings in London.Pakistan has come under increased international pressure to crack down on Islamic militants after it emerged some of the bombers in the July 7 attacks in London, British Muslims of Pakistani descent, had recently visited the country.Police said some 600 kilogrammes of explosive were used in the attacks, with more than half in the suicide car bomb that rammed into the luxury Ghazala Gardens hotel.- Nampa-AFPTheir passports were found in an unspecified Sharm el-Sheikh hotel, police said, adding that one of them may have died in the deadly bombings but stressing that the Pakistanis were not necessarily the bombers.According to hospital officials, the multiple bombings – Egypt’s deadliest ever terrorist attacks – killed 88 people but the health and tourism ministries have reported only up to 64 confirmed dead.The resort was packed with tourists when the pre-dawn bombs went off and foreign embassy officials were still in Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday, as more than 30 bodies were still to be identified and foreigners continued to scramble for flights home.At least 95 people have been arrested in a police dragnet as part of a massive search for the perpetrators of the triple attack on a hotel, a market and a parking lot that came on the heels of deadly bombings in London.Pakistan has come under increased international pressure to crack down on Islamic militants after it emerged some of the bombers in the July 7 attacks in London, British Muslims of Pakistani descent, had recently visited the country.Police said some 600 kilogrammes of explosive were used in the attacks, with more than half in the suicide car bomb that rammed into the luxury Ghazala Gardens hotel.- Nampa-AFP