Egyptian police scoured for clues Sunday and struggled to identify dozens of the 90 people killed in three coordinated bomb blasts that rocked Sharm el-Sheik, sending foreign tourists scrambling to catch flights home.  

More than 70 people were detained in this Red Sea resort and elsewhere on the Sinai Peninsula for questioning over early Saturday's explosions. But none were accused of involvement in Egypt's deadliest-ever terror attack, said security officials, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the inquiry.

The roundups appeared similar to police operations after last October's attacks at the Sinai resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan, when 3,000 people were detained.

Some 200 of those are believed to still be in custody, including two Egyptian suspects whose trial resumed yesterday.

Egypt's interior minister has said investigators are looking into whether there were links between the Taba and Sharm blasts, which both took place despite the massive presence of Egyptian security forces in Sinai, a strategically important area bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Security officials said four terrorists carried out the coordinated series of attacks on the Ghazala Garden Hotel and a nearby car park in Naama Bay and three kilometers away at a crowded coffee shop in an area called the Old Market shortly after 1:00 AM.

The officials, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the investigation, said the four men had driven into Sharm along desert tracks from the north of the city while hiding at least 400 kilograms of explosives under vegetables in their vehicles.

Two of the men left a green Isuzu packed with explosives in the Old Market area, which later exploded after apparently being set off by a timing device, the officials claimed. The bomb blew a 5-meter wide crater into the middle of the road, which police have cordoned off with yellow tape.

Two suspected militants in the other vehicle, a white pickup truck, carried out the other blasts, the officials claimed.

One man got out of the vehicle and left a small bomb, which had also been rigged with a timer, in a black bag at a car park, while the other sped off in the truck and slammed it into the Ghazala Hotel some 150 meters away, the officials claimed.

As people fled the scene of the hotel bombing, the bomb in the bag exploded, said the officials, who added that police were searching for other militants involved.

Local investigators are also examining the possibility that foreigners carried out the blasts, which have sent shock waves through this country's vital tourism industry.

"It's not just my job that's at risk today. It's everyone's here," said Mohammed Ahmed, 32, chief of a marine rescue team. "It's all about tourists if they don't come, we don't work."

Naama Bay's wide streets and soft, sandy beaches were virtually empty of tourists early yesterday, with many remaining inside hotels or heading to the airport for flights home. Some airlines have flown extra planes to Sharm to carry home tourists wanting to cut short their holidays.

Workers labored to clean up rubble and twisted metal in the Old Market area and repair damaged souvenir shop fronts and cafes under a sun-soaked sky. Glass from the windows of bomb-ravaged cars still covered streets.

Policemen were present in large numbers around bomb blast sites and eerily quiet restaurant strips.

Egyptian health officials say at least 34 of the victims have yet to be identified. Those killed were mostly Egyptians, but among the dead were at least seven Westerners including two Britons, two Germans, an Italian and a Czech.

Local officials in South Sinai, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bodies have been taken to the peninsula's capital of Tor, where there is a larger morgue.

Two rival claims of responsibility have emerged but neither statement could be authenticated.

(China Daily July 25, 2005)