CAIRO — Egyptian officials are still tracking the movements of between six and nine Pakistani nationals in the investigation of the Al Qaida attacks in Sharm e-Sheik on July 23.
Pakistan has denied any link to the July 23 bombing attacks in Sharm, in which an estimated 90 people were
killed and by Tuesday, the Egyptian Interior Ministry stressed that Pakistani nationals
were not suspected of carrying out the strikes.
Despite the flurry of conflicting statements and the identification of one of the bombers as an Egyption, the investigation the Pakistanis' movements continue, officials said.
[Police using DNA tests identified one of the bodies found at the Ghazala site as Youssef Badran, an Egyptian Sinai resident who they said has links to Islamic militants, security officials said, according to an AP report.]
"What happened is that the six Pakistani citizens arrived in Egypt
within a group, and then they left their six passports at the hotel where
they were staying," Egyptian ambassador to Pakistan Hussein Haridy said in a
statement. "They disappeared after that. So as a routine security check, we
are trying to locate them."
The Pakistanis arrived in a Cairo hotel on July 5, officials said. They
said they entered Egypt on forged Jordanian passports.
On the same day, the Pakistanis left for Sharm, officials said. The two
minibuses used in the bombings were delivered about two days later, they
said.
Egyptian security forces, searching for the planners of the
Al Qaida attacks in Sharm e-Sheik, have battled Bedouin insurgents in the
Sinai Peninsula.
Officials said security forces fought Bedouins in the Sinai mountains
about 30 kilometers northwest of Sharm on Monday. They said police and
commando units surrounded the villages of Khurum and Rweissat in a search
for suspects. About 25 Bedouins were arrested.
Egypt initially determined that nine Pakistani nationals arrived in Sinai to
carry out the attacks. The officials said six of the Pakistanis were
identified. They were Mohammad Akhtar, 30, Rashid Ali, 26, Mohammad Anwar,
30, Mohammad Arif, 36, and Tasadduq Hussein, 18.
"At the moment, we are still investigating if they have a direct or an
indirect link to the bombings," Interior Ministry official Khaled Arafa
said. "But we don't think that they carried out the attacks themselves
because the explosive materials were smuggled through Taba mountains and
only Bedouins know these areas quite well."
Officials said some of the Pakistanis were believed to have been
harbored by Bedouins in Sinai. They said the Pakistanis packed the
explosives in minibuses for the drive to Sharm.
An Interior Ministry
spokesman denied that Egyptian security forces raided Bedouin villages
near Sharm.
Two hotels were targeted by the Al Qaida suicide bombers, officials
said. One of the minibuses, however, was stopped by police in the Old Market
in Sharm. The driver then detonated 250 kilograms of explosives in front of
a crowded cafe.
"We think that one of the Pakistanis was killed in the attacks," an
Egyptian security source said. "But we can confirm this only after we
complete the DNA tests."
Egypt has linked the Sharm attacks to two bombings in Sinai in October
2004 in which 34 people were killed. In both strikes, most of the victims
were Egyptian nationals. The October 2004 strikes were followed by the
arrest of 3,000 Bedouins.
On Tuesday, an Al Qaida-aligned group, Tawhid and Jihad Group in Egypt,
claimed responsibility for the Sharm attacks and identified five operatives
killed in the bombings. The group said the Sharm attackers were comprised of
"Iyad the Palestinian," Suleiman Fulayfel, Hamad Al Tirbani, Mohammed Badawi
and Salamah Al Tihi.
"We did not announce these details previously because of our security
situation," the previously-unknown group said. "But we are now in a better
position and we can also claim our second operation in Sharm e-Sheik, which
we selected to challenge the tyrants of the security forces."
