CAIRO: Egypt blamed suicide attacks in the Sinai Peninsula this week on local Bedouins linked to an Islamic radical group also responsible for other bloody bombings in Red Sea resorts in the past 18 months. The information indicates that the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks that occurred in Dahab and Al-Gura are Sinai bedouins, nterior …

CAIRO: Police detained Al Jazeera television s Cairo bureau chief, accusing him of spreading false information while reporting the Sinai bombings, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday. An Interior Ministry spokesman said Hussein Abdel Ghani had been taken in for questioning after reporting an explosion in the eastern province of Sharkia on Wednesday, a report …

DAHAB, Egypt: Police were questioning some 30 people yesterday in connection with the attacks. Security officials say three of those being detained, three computer engineers. They are identified as Moumen Farouk Mohammed, Ali Karim Ashraf Abdallah and Maged Ali Mahmoud, and arrived at the resort on Sunday and left an hour after the attacks. The …

CAIRO: A third set of bombings targeting tourists on the Sinai Peninsula adds to the mystery about the secretive group thought to be behind them, driving some analysts to suspect a foreign connection. Hours after Monday s bombings in the budget resort of Dahab, Western analysts mentioned Al-Qaeda as a possible culprit. But many security …

ISMAILIA, Egypt: Two men blew themselves up in north Sinai on Wednesday, one near an airport used by an international observer force and one near the northern town of El Arish, security sources said. The bombs, which followed three deadly explosions in the east Sinai resort of Dahab on Monday, killed only the bombers, an …

CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood warned Tuesday against any attempt by the government to use the deadly bombings in Dahab to silence opposition to the planned renewal of a longstanding state of emergency. The [government] had already decided to extend the state of emergency before the bombings, the opposition Islamist movement s spokesman Essam Al-Aryan told …

DAHAB, Egypt: Ten people have been arrested in connection with three powerful explosions that rocked the Red Sea resort town of Dahab as vacationers wrapped up a long holiday break. The consecutive blasts were all within 200 feet of one another and left some 24 people dead and at least 150 injured, according to the …

CAIRO: Helmy Zein El Dein, deputy housing minister, is under investigation for squandering public funds, facilitating their appropriation and profiting from his post. Zein El Dein, who acts as the housing minister s deputy for external funding and presides over the Cooperative Union for Central Housing, faces a total of eight charges that fall under …

DAHAB: It was like war. I d never seen anything like it before, a child, a baby, blood everywhere, said German doctor Michael Hartlich, shaking at the memory, and tears in his eyes. A boy died in my arms. As the sun rose Tuesday over the Red Sea, the appalling destruction of three deadly explosions …

CAIRO: Egyptian writer Ahmed Fekri is so convinced President Hosni Mubarak will step down soon that he has drafted a resignation speech for the long-time leader. I have entrusted my son, Gamal, to take the post of president of the Republic. Before you, I advise him to guard the system of the Republic, jested Fekri, …

CAIRO: State-owned newspapers on Tuesday linked the deadly blasts which rocked the Red Sea resort of Dahab with previous Islamist attacks in the Sinai. The preliminary findings of the investigation show a possible link between these attacks and those in Taba and Sharm El-Sheikh, the top-selling Al Ahram daily said. According to the interior ministry, …

VIENNA: World leaders united to roundly condemn Monday s deadly triple bomb attack in Dahab. The European Union on Tuesday called the bombings “despicable, and leaders across Europe said they were standing with the Egyptian government against terrorist attacks. In a statement issued by Austria, the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, the 25-nation …

JERUSALEM: Israel looked to make common cause with the Egyptian government against Islamist extremists Tuesday after the latest Sinai bombings, having warned for months about possible attacks in the region. In a late night phone call to President Hosni Mubarak, Israel s acting premier Ehud Olmert offered condolences and any assistance required in the aftermath …

JERUSALEM: Militants in the Sinai Peninsula are already plotting their next attack in the popular resort area, an Israeli anti-terrorism expert said Tuesday, a day after a triple bombing killed at least 24 people there. * Brig. Gen. Elkana Har Nof, an official in the prime minister s counterterrorism department, said the Red Sea coast …

ISMAILIA, Egypt: Two men blew themselves up in north Sinai on Wednesday, one near an airport used by an international observer force and one near the northern town of El Arish, security sources said. The bombs, which followed three deadly explosions in the east Sinai resort of Dahab on Monday, killed only the bombers, an …

LONDON: It remains a mystery that was behind Monday s suicide bombing in the Red Sea resort of Dahab in which 24 people were killed, Minister of Tourism, Mohamed Zoheir Garana, said Tuesday. Later on during the day, at least 10 people were arrested in connection with the bombings. It would be very premature to …

CAIRO: The attorney general agreed Saturday that the jailed leader of the opposition El-Ghad (Tomorrow) party be transferred to a public hospital as demanded by his family and lawyer, a judicial source said. Maher Abdul Wahid consented that Ayman Nour be moved from the prison hospital where he was being treated for multiple ailments, including …

DAHAB, Egypt: Three nearly simultaneous bombings hit this Egyptian beach resort popular with foreigners, killing at least 24 people on streets filled with vacationers and Egyptians enjoying a long weekend marking a national holiday. The early evening bombings in the Sinai seaside city of Dahab blew out storefronts along a crowded promenade of shops, restaurants …

CAIRO: Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif has said the verdict is still out on official claims that the recent attacks on churches that left one man dead were committed by a mentally unstable man. Meanwhile, a senior Coptic cleric added his doubts on the official statements and said wider tensions were behind the attacks. During the …

CAIRO: Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Sunday that Israel may yet recognize the Hamas-led Palestinian government, calling for an end to infighting between Palestinian factions. When we refer to the success of Hamas in the elections, Israel must decide whether it will recognize Hamas, and I think this is a possibility, said Moratinos …

CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak sought to allay the fears of the Coptic community after violent communal clashes in Alexandria, in a message published Sunday to coincide with Orthodox Easter. Egypt is strong … and nobody can harm the unity that exists between Muslims and Christians, Mubarak said in the message published in state-owned newspapers. They …

CAIRO: Family and friends of 22 young men arrested in Egypt on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks protested Friday against the detentions. More than 1,000 demonstrators gathered in the low-income El-Zawiyah El-Hamrah district of Cairo chanting slogans urging authorities to Release our innocent sons, and asserting that they would give our blood in exchange for …

CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak said in an interview published Monday it was too early to plan an Israeli-Palestinian summit, stressing the need to settle internal Palestinian disputes first. He told the semi-official Al-Gomhuriya newspaper in an interview published in Monday s edition, distributed late Sunday that it was premature to speak of a Palestinian-Israeli summit …

CAIRO: The government has been sending mixed signals to Islamist groups, with state security arresting members of the Muslim Brotherhood almost simultaneously with the release of hundreds of members of Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya. With Islamists caught between random detentions, crackdowns and releases, the state of the emergency law has been vehemently debated, with the government strongly …

CAIRO: After a period of hope and mounting calls for political reform in Egypt, analysts say the government is now seeking to systematically gag dissident voices as Washington turns its attention to other issues. The reform process has backslided because the United States, busy with other issues in the region like Iraq and Iran, has …

CAIRO: The head of the Muslim Brotherhood called on Arab and Islamic countries to support Iran s nuclear position in the face of U.S. arrogance and asked Iran to reassure its neighbors of its commitment to Iraq. All countries have to the right to adopt peaceful nuclear activities, whether they be British, Indian, Iranian, Egyptian …

CAIRO: Egypt said Friday that Iran wants a diplomatic solution to the standoff with the international community over its nuclear program, but also insists on its right to peaceful nuclear technology. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit about next week s report to the U.N. Security Council on Iran s nuclear …

JERUSALEM: President Hosni Moubarak on Friday invited Israeli prime minister-designate Ehud Olmert to visit Cairo after forming his new cabinet, the premier s office said. Mubarak telephoned Olmert to wish him luck with his consultations to form a new coalition after his Kadima party emerged the largest faction in Israel s general election on March …

Head: Police release 120 Brotherhood activists CAIRO: Police on Wednesday freed 120 students arrested for belonging to the Islamist opposition Muslim Brotherhood organization and referred 30 others to the prosecutor, a security official said. The Brotherhood, which forms the largest opposition bloc in parliament, confirmed the releases on its Web site (www.ikhwanoline.com), adding all 150 …

CAIRO: The government said on Wednesday it had arrested a group of 22 militant Islamists planning bomb attacks on tourist targets, a gas pipeline near Cairo and Muslim and Christian religious leaders. The opposition Muslim Brotherhood, which seeks political change through peaceful means, said the government would try to use the report to extend emergency …