Mubarak defiant as death toll climbs to 88

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said the killing of 88 people in tourist resort bomb attacks would only serve to stiffen his resolve to combat militant attackers.

Bombs ripped through shopping and hotel areas in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh overnight in Egypt's worst attack since 1981.

Shaken tourists spoke of mass panic and hysteria as people fled the carnage in the early hours, with bodies strewn across the roads, people screaming and sirens wailing.

"This will only make us more determined to pursue terrorism and dig it out by the roots," Mubarek said in a short statement read on television. "We will not give in to its blackmail, or seek a truce."

The regional governor said two car bombs and possibly a suitcase bomb had rocked the resort, popular with divers, European holidaymakers and statesmen who have attended world summits in the place Egypt has called "the city of peace".

Egyptian Interior Minister Habib el-Adli said it was too early to say whether al Qaeda or other Islamist groups had any connection with the bombings but he said there was probably a link with attacks further north last October.

Egyptian authorities blamed those attacks, which killed 34 people mostly at the Taba Hilton on the Israeli border, on a Palestinian leading an unaffiliated group.

Last month Israel stepped up warnings to its own citizens, saying the risk of another such attack had risen.

A group claiming links to al Qaeda said Saturday's bombings were revenge for "crimes committed against Muslims", said an internet statement. But the statement did not appear on major al Qaeda websites and it was impossible to authenticate the claim.

Police arrested 35 people in the Sharm el-Sheikh area, security sources said, but it was not clear if they were suspected of close links with the bombers.

Ahmed Mustafa, a waiter at a coffee shop near the first blast, said a fireball tore through a shopping mall car park in Sharm el-Sheikh town at about 1.15am local time (10.15am Saturday NZT).

The blast turned cars into twisted metal, blew down masonry on nearby buildings and shattered windows for hundreds of metres (yards) around.

"I saw a car flying up in the air, people running," restaurant owner Yehya Mohammed said by telephone. "This is a horrible setback for tourism here."

Sharm residents said they heard two more explosions in quick succession, blasts that could be felt 10km away.

Witnesses said the first of these tore the front off the Ghazala Gardens Hotel in Naama Bay, the site of most of the resort's luxury hotels.

A car broke into the hotel compound and exploded in front of the building, South Sinai Governor Mustafa Afifi said.

"There was a blast then a fireball ... Everyone panicked," said Dutch tourist Rene von Denberg, who was sitting at a cafe smoking a water-pipe when the bomb hit the hotel.

"It felt like an earthquake. It was an almighty boom and the whole hotel was covered with dust," added Londoner Robert Hare.

The third bomb hit a taxi rank.

An official source at Sharm el-Sheikh International Hospital said there were 88 dead and about 200 injured.

Most of the victims were Egyptians but the Tourism Ministry spokeswoman said seven non-Egyptians were dead, including a Czech and an Italian, and 20 were injured.

The injured foreigners were nine Italians, five Saudis, three Britons, a Russian, a Ukrainian and an Israeli Arab, spokeswoman Hala el-Khatib told reporters. But the British Foreign Office in London said eight Britons were injured.

- REUTERS