Blasts in Egyptian Resort Towns on Jewish Holiday
CAIRO, Egypt — Explosions rocked three resort towns in Egypt near the Israeli border Thursday night, as a Jewish holiday was winding down. Security officials said that terrorists were behind at least one of the blasts and witnesses gave unconfirmed reports that all three explosions were caused by car bombs.
The first explosion shook the Hilton hotel in the Taba (search) resort, packed with vacationing Israelis, at around 10 p.m. An official at Taba Hospital in Egypt said at least 30 people were killed and 114 injured in explosions on the Sinai Peninsula (search), though there were conflicting reports of casualty counts.
Israeli medics said they had transferred 22 wounded people to hospitals, but there were believed to be many more. Witnesses said there were people trapped under the ruins of the western side of the hotel.
Two smaller blasts followed just hours later.
"I heard one very big explosion coming from Taba direction and then, after a while, I heard two smaller explosions from Nuweiba," near Ras al Shitan, human rights activist Abdel Raziq said by telephone.
The second explosion took place in Ras Hasatan (search), a tourist attraction popular among Israelis located about 15 miles south of Taba. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The third blast was reported in Nuweiba (search), another resort town on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
Ambulances raced to the scene of the Taba blast.
"The whole front of the hotel has collapsed. There are dozens of people on the floor, lots of blood. It is very tense," witness Yigal Vakni told Israel's Army Radio. "I am standing outside of the hotel, the whole thing is burning and they have nothing to put it out with."
A car rental manager at the Hilton, Mohammed Saleh, said a large part of the hotel was destroyed, and about three-quarters of it damaged.
Israeli security officials said there was increasing suspicion that the Taba blast had been caused by a truck laden with explosives, according to Haaretz news service.
Israel police told Haaretz that 30 people were killed in that explosion; a Taba Hospital source said about 100 had been injured, according to the news service.
Egyptian security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the 10 p.m. explosion took place among gas tanks in the kitchen of the hotel, which is next to the casino where many tourists were at the time of the blast. They said they had no initial indications that the blast was a result of terrorism.
However, the Haaretz (search) newspaper in Israel said the blast took place in the lobby of the hotel, causing the ceiling to collapse, followed by a fire and the evacuation of guests on upper floors through the emergency exits. The newspaper quoted Israeli security sources as saying there is a growing conviction that the explosion was caused by a terrorist attack.
The explosion came about a month after the Israeli government urged citizens not to visit Egypt, citing a "concrete" terror threat to tourists in an area. The warning, issued on Sept. 9 by the counterterrorism center in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's (search) office, identified Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, where Taba is located, as the target of a potential attack.
"Recently a concrete possibility has emerged that terrorists will try to attack tourist centers in Egypt, especially the Sinai," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on its Web site.
The explosion could be heard and felt strongly a mile from the hotel, said Selma Abu el-Dahab, who works at another Taba hotel. She said a worker from her hotel returned from the Hilton and told of the explosion before collapsing.
Taba is the main crossing between Israel and Egypt and the gateway for thousands of Israelis who travel to the hotels and resorts on the Red Sea. Thursday is the last day of the weeklong Jewish festival of Sukkot, when thousands of Israelis vacation in the Sinai.
Vakni said most of the people at the Hilton were Israeli.
"I was in the casino when it happened," he said. "There was a massive explosion, and the left wall came down. People started to run around like crazy."
foxnews.com
Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad Hit by Rockets
BAGHDAD, Iraq — A trio of rockets slammed into the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Baghdad Tuesday, sparking a fire outside the building and a heavy gun battle in the street.
Mortars sailed toward the Sheraton and Palestine hotels, which both house journalists and foreigners, including many Americans. Only the Sheraton was hit in the attack by rockets that smashed into the side of the building, igniting a blaze and filling the lobby with smoke.
"It was a shattering explosion — a crack and then a massive, massive thud," said FOX News' John Cookson from the hotel, where he and the rest of the FOX News crew are staying. "The whole room shook, the tables shook, dust blew into the corridor outside." Other than a minor head wound on one crew member, the FOX News staff was safe, he said.
Earlier Thursday, U.S. officials said that two American soldiers were killed and two others were wounded in separate attacks involving roadside bombs. Twenty Iraqis were arrested in the north in operations against those suspected of planting explosives.
The Katyusha rockets that struck the Sheraton were fired from the back of a vehicle, Interior Ministry spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman said. There were no casualties, he said.
The blasts set a palm tree on fire as tracer bullets streaked across the darkened sky. Several shaken Westerners emerged from the hotel, some covering their mouths with cloths, as workers swept up broken glass. A huge crack appeared in the lobby wall.
A security guard speaking on condition of anonymity said private security guards deployed on the roofs in the compound fired at the pickup truck, destroying it.
There were no reports of major injuries in the attack, and the damage was fairly minor...
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