Leaders Condemn Egypt Blasts

World leaders today condemned the series of explosions that killed at least 24 people in an Egyptian tourist resort last night.

Three bombs went off almost simultaneously at around 7.15pm (1815 BST) in the popular town of Dahab, on the Sinia peninsula.

At least 21 Egyptians and three foreigners died, according to the Egyptian interior ministry. More than 60 people, including two Britons, were injured as the bombs exploded in two restaurants and a supermarket.

The British ambassador, Sir Derek Plumbly, said the two British casualties had been transferred to Cairo for treatment.

The Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, called the attacks a "sinful terrorist action", while the US president, George Bush, said: "I strongly condemn the killings that took place, the innocent lives lost in Egypt,"

Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, said the bombings had been carried out by terrorists showing "callous disregard for human life."

In a statement, the EU said it "strongly condemned" the "despicable" attacks, and offered its condolences to the friends and relatives of the victims. "Once again, heinous terrorist forces have brought despair and suffering to innocent civilians," the statement said.

A spokesman for the Hamas-run Palestinian cabinet, Ghazi Hamad, called the bombings a "criminal attack which is against all human values". "We denounce the attack, which harmed Egyptian national security," he said.

The Egyptian minister for tourism, Mohamed Zoheir Garana, said it was not yet known which group had been responsible for the Dahab bombings.

The Egyptian economy is heavily dependent on tourism, and Mr Garana told the BBC's Today programme: "It does concern us ... but I am sure the Egyptian government is more concerned now about the casualties than the impact it will have on the tourism industry.

"I think people are very angry about this, and frustrated about what is taking place," he said. "Every 1 million tourists creates 200,000 new jobs, and this is something that the Egyptian government needs, and that makes people more furious about it."

A German boy, a 30-year-old Russian man and a Swiss national were among those who died in the attacks, officials said.

The injured included five Danes, two Italians, two Germans, two French people, a South Korean, a Lebanese, a Palestinian, an American, an Israeli and an Australian.

The bombings - the third attack on a Sinai resort in less than two years - happened as the streets were filled with holidaymakers beginning an evening out.

"There were just three loud bangs and people rushing around," British tourist Paul McBeath told Sky News. "Everybody is shaken."

Another witness said the Al Capone restaurant, one of the area's most popular nightspots, had been destroyed. "The tables and chairs have gone - there is nothing left," Joseph Nazir, who owns a safari company in Dahab, said.

"Everybody is panicking, a lot of people are crying. We will be affected by this for a long, long time."

Hani Sadeq, a 24-year-old who worked at the nearby Mona Lisa jewellery store, said, "I thought the power generator had blown up. We ran towards the scene and we found people, our friends, lying on the ground. Some were already dead."

The resort was filled with tourists and Egyptians celebrating the Coptic Christian Easter weekend, which this year coincided with Shem al-Nessim, the ancient holiday marking the first day of spring.

The attacks came a day before Sinai Liberation Day, a national holiday marking the return of the peninsula to Egypt from Israel as a result of the 1979 peace treaty.

They took place only hours after the al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden, called on Muslims to fight back in what he described as "a war against Islam".

In a taped message, Bin Laden accused the US and Europe of supporting a "Zionist" war on Islam by cutting off funds to the Hamas-led Palestinian government.

Over the past two years, attacks at several tourist resorts in the Sinai peninsula - each timed to coincide with a major holiday in Egypt - have killed almost 100 people.

Bombings in the resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan, near the Israeli border, killed 34 people in October 2004, while suicide attackers killed 64 people in an attack on Sharm el-Sheik last July.

The Egyptian interior minister, Habib el-Adly, said it was not immediately clear whether yesterday's attacks had been carried out by a group as organised as those responsible for previous resort bombings.

"The devices used were not of the types which would have caused big destruction," he said. "It is clear from examination and the marks left as a result of the explosion, that they were mild marks which reflect the type of the explosive devices."

The Foreign Office has set up an information hotline for those concerned that relatives or friends could have been caught up in the attacks on 020 7008 0000.