With Israeli rescue workers gone, the Egyptian military sealed off a bombed luxury hotel Monday to clear more debris and collect evidence for investigators tracing the explosives and vehicles used in deadly attacks that targeted Israeli tourists. Egyptian security officials said Sunday that a Bedouin tribesman has confessed to selling explosives that might have been used in the three Sinai resort car bombings that killed at least 34 people. They said investigators also were looking into Palestinian militant involvement.
The deadliest of the three attacks was at the Taba Hilton, where the front rooms on a 10-story wing of the hotel were sheared off. David Michels, chief executive officer of Hilton Group PLC, visited the scene over the weekend, meeting with Egyptian officials and Hilton employees. Hilton said staff had been paid two months' salary while the damage is assessed. "The investigation is now in the hands of the authorities," Michels said in a statement Monday. "Our role is to support the local authorities to the best of our ability."
Three car bombs, each packed with 440 pounds of explosives, exploded Thursday night, one at the Taba Hilton just south of the Egypt-Israel border and two at Ras Shitan, a town of beach bungalows 35 miles south on the Red Sea. Egypt's Interior Ministry put the death toll at 34, including 11 Israelis, eight Egyptians, one Russian, two Italians and 12 victims whose identities and nationalities remained unconfirmed. The dead also were believed to include eastern Europeans. |