SHARM EL SHEIKH, July 23: Eighty-eight people were killed and over 200 injured after three bombs ripped through shopping and hotel areas in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh on Saturday.

The dead included nine foreigners.

A group claiming links to the Al Qaeda organization said it had carried out the bombings in retaliation for ‘crimes committed against Muslims’, according to an Internet statement.

The statement, which was not carried on major Al Qaeda Web sites, was signed by the Abdullah al Azzam Brigades of the Al Qaeda Organization in the Levant and Egypt.

Shaken tourists spoke of panic and hysteria as people fled Egypt’s worst carnage since 1981, with bodies strewn across the roads, people screaming and sirens wailing.

The regional governor said two car bombs and a suitcase bomb had rocked the resort around 1am (2200 GMT on Friday). The resort is popular with divers, European holidaymakers and statesmen who have attended world summits in the place Egypt has called ‘the city of peace’.

One blast 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 a mighty boom and the whole hotel was covered with dust,” added Londoner Robert Hare.

MUBARAK RESOLUTE: In a short statement read on television, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said: “This will only make us more determined to pursue terrorism and dig it out by the roots ... We will not give in to its blackmail, or seek a truce.”

World leaders condemned the bombings. The White House called the attacks ‘barbaric’ and said President George Bush had spoken to Mr Mubarak to offer help to the victims and ‘bringing the perpetrators of these acts to justice’.

But an Iranian government spokesman said Washington had contributed. “Unfortunately a simplistic, wrong approach by the US in fighting terrorism has made the world unsafe,” he said.

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.

Egyptian Interior Minister Habib el Adli said it was too early to say whether Al Qaeda or other 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.

SKELETONS OF TWISTED METAL: 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 (2215 GMT on Friday).

The explosion turned cars into skeletons of twisted metal, blew down masonry on nearby buildings and shattered windows for hundreds of metres around.

Officials said a car had exploded, but a witness said a man had walked into a crowd with a large travel bag and announced in Arabic: “I have a bomb.”

Some people moved away, but others thought he was joking, said the witness. Two minutes later an explosion took place where he had put the bag, she added.

“I saw a car flying up in the air, people running,” restaurant owner Yehya Mohammed said. “I do not think I will ever forget this in my life. This is a horrible setback for tourism here.”

Sharm el Sheikh residents said they heard two more explosions coming from Naama Bay in quick succession, blasts that could be felt 10kms away. Witnesses said the first of these hit the hotel and the second a taxi stand.

President Mubarak cut short a holiday on the Mediterranean coast and flew to Sharm el Sheikh, officials said.

He then flew to the rival resort of Hurghada, on the African shore of the Red Sea, to reassure tourists and check security.

The attacks had an immediate impact on tourism as European travellers cancelled trips to the popular destination.—Reuters