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Saturday, Oct. 9, 2004

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  At the Taba Hilton, scene of the deadliest blast, investigators searched for clues to the identities of the attackers. Israeli officials have said they believed the al-Qaida terror network most likely was behind the attack, while Egyptian officials said it was too early to point to suspects.

Fingerprints were lifted from the car used in the Hilton bomb, which consisted of 440 pounds of explosives, and DNA samples were taken from body parts found nearby to determine whether suicide bombers drove the vehicle.

Investigators also were doing "dust analysis" to determine exactly what sort of explosives were used, an Egyptian investigator said on condition of anonymity.

Security officials said several dozen Bedouin tribesmen were being questioned about suspicions they provided explosives to the attackers. A senior police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said later that 20 people were being held, some of them quarry workers who presumably had access to explosives.

Three car bombs exploded Thursday night, one at the Taba Hilton just south of the Egypt-Israel border and two at a bungalow beach camp farther south along the Red Sea coast.

Egyptian and Israeli crews used jackhammers, dogs and their bare hands to search the blood-stained hotel wreckage Saturday. Trees around the hotel were filled with the bodies of charred birds.

Three bodies, including a toddler, were pulled from the rubble, bringing the death toll to 33, the Israeli military said. Col. Gideon Bar-on, a member of the Israeli army rescue unit, said five to 10 bodies were still in the rubble. More than 100 people were injured, including two people who work at the U.S. Embassy in Israel.

The head of Israel's Shin Bet security service, Avi Dichter, toured the scene of the hotel explosion Saturday and met with Egyptian security officials.

Dan Arditi, head of Israel's counter-terrorism agency, said Saturday that Israeli tourists in the Sinai Peninsula were still in danger and urged them to come home immediately. Thursday's attacks "don't lessen, even in the slightest, the risk that this will happen again," he told Israel Radio.

A month ago the agency urged Israelis to stay out of Sinai, saying it had concrete warnings about plans for a terror attack.

Israel's government had never before issued such a severe travel advisory, but thousands of Israelis ignored it and spent the Jewish holiday period, which began in mid-September, in Sinai resorts. Many Israelis considered the desert peninsula a safe place to get away from their country, which has been hit by dozens of Palestinian suicide bombings in the past four years of fighting.

After Thursday's attacks, thousands of frightened Israeli tourists returned home, but others remained.

"I recommend that Israeli citizens who are still in the Sinai come back, as quickly as possible," Arditi said Saturday, suggesting it was possible the attackers his agency had warned about were not those who carried out Thursday's bombings.

Israeli security sources said September's warning apparently referred to Palestinian militants trying to sneak out of Gaza, which borders the Sinai. The peninsula is the main weapons smuggling route for Palestinian militants.

A U.S. counterterrorism official in Washington said American officials suspected Osama bin Laden's network played a role because the bombings showed a level of sophistication fitting al-Qaida's usual operational style, the official said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said Palestinian or Egyptian militant groups should not be ruled out.

President Bush offered to help Egypt track down those responsible.

"By targeting Muslims and Jews, Egyptians and Israelis, and women and children, the terrorists have shown their total contempt for all human life and for all human values," he said.

There were several claims of responsibility -- including one from an al-Qaida-linked group -- but none appeared credible.

The Taba Hilton was at 95 percent capacity with up to 900 guests and 500 employees inside when a car crashed into the lobby and exploded. The front of a 10-story wing of the hotel came crashing into the lobby.

Within two hours, two more car bombs detonated nearly simultaneously outside the backpacker-oriented beach huts of Ras Shitan, 35 miles to the south, where many Israeli youths were spending the holiday.

South Sinai Gov. Mustafa Afifi said an Egyptian security guard was suspicious about one of the cars and intervened, preventing it from blowing up close to lodging.

© 2004 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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