The 2004 Sinai bombings were three bomb attacks targeting
touristhotels in the
Sinai Peninsula,
Egypt, on 7 October 2004. The attacks left 34 people dead and 171 injured.
The bombings
The explosions occurred on the night of 7 October, against the
Hilton Taba and campsites used by
Israelis in
Ras al-Shitan [
he]. In the Taba attack, a truck drove into the lobby of the Taba Hilton and exploded, killing 31 people and wounding some 159 others. Ten floors of the hotel collapsed following the blast.[1]
Some 50 kilometers (31 mi) south, at campsites at Ras al-Shitan, near
Nuweiba, two more sites were targeted. A car parked in front of a restaurant at the Moon Island resort exploded, killing two Israelis and a
Bedouin. Twelve were wounded. Another blast happened moments later, targeting the Baddiyah tourist camp, but no one was hurt, apparently because the bomber had been scared off by a guard and did not enter the crowded resort.[2]
According to the Egyptian government, the bombers were
Palestinians who had tried to enter Israel to carry out attacks there but were unsuccessful. They claimed that the mastermind, Iyad Saleh, recruited Egyptians and Bedouins to find explosives to be used in the attacks. Beginning in March 2004, the bombers used
washing machine timers,
mobile phones and modified
gas cylinders to build the bombs. They used
TNT and old explosives found in the Sinai (as it was many times a war zone), which were purchased from Bedouins, to complete the bombs.[3] Egypt has said that Saleh and one of his aides, Suleiman Ahmed Saleh Flayfil, died in the Hilton blast, apparently because their bomb timer had run out too fast.[4]
Three Egyptians, Younes Mohammed Mahmoud, Osama al-Nakhlawi, and Mohammed Jaez Sabbah were sentenced to death in November 2006 for their roles in the blast.[5] Egypt arrested up to 2,400 people following the attacks.[6]
The initial investigations by the Israeli and Egyptian governments centered on al-Qaeda, with Israeli
Foreign MinisterSilvan Shalom saying "The type, the planning, the scope, the simultaneous attacks in a number of places, all this points to al-Qaeda".[7] However, Egyptian Presidential
Spokesman Majid `Abd al-Fatah later stated that there was no evidence linking the organisation to the attack, instead claiming it was the work of a lone wolf driven by "injustice, aggression and despair" over the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[8]
Aftermath
Israel had warned in September 2004 that there were planned bombings in the Sinai, but most Israelis did not heed those warnings and went on vacation there instead.[9] Many Israelis left the Sinai after the bombings, along with some foreign tourists, but the effects on the country's tourism were not too severe.[citation needed]
On 9 May 2006, Egyptian security forces shot dead Nasser Khamis el-Mallahi, leader of the militant group. The shootout took place in
Al-Arish, where el-Mallahi and Abu Jarair are native.[11][12]
^Halawi, Jailan (27 April – 3 May 2006).
"Sects and politics". Al Ahram Weekly (792). Archived from
the original on 8 May 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2014.