There was also a blast in Lebanon today, although that is kind of like saying that it was warm in Death Valley. However all things considered is anyone else get the feeling that we are seeing a large scale terrorist offensive. If so than maybe the next attack will be in Saudi Arabia, South East Asia or perhaps even the US hoemland, because this seems calculated to show that the terrorist still have a global reach. Just a thought at first glance. – Chris

Four blasts shake Egyptian resort area
At least 20 dead, 100 wounded in apparent car bombings
BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and news services
Updated: 7:24 p.m. ET July 22, 2005

CAIRO - Multiple explosions in the Egyptian Red Sea resort area reportedly killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 100 more early Saturday.

Police said the explosions were caused by four car bombs in Sharm el-Sheikh and the nearby resort of Naama Bay. Other reports suggested there were more than four blasts.

Ihab Eergala, a witness working at the Hard Rock Cafe near where one of the bombs went off, said that there were four explosions, which came in pairs. One was at the taxi station next to the Hard Rock, one at the Ghazala Garden Hotel, one at the Salam Tourist Village and one at the Old Market. Eergala told NBC's Charlene Gubash that he saw some of the casualties at the taxi station.

The first explosion, shortly after 1 a.m. (2200 GMT), was audible more than half a mile away, one resident said. It started a fire, and smoke billowed over the town.

About 15 minutes later, two explosions were audible from the direction of Naama Bay, about four miles away, he said. Naama Bay has dozens of luxury hotels popular with divers and vacationers from Europe.

Another resident said one of the explosions came from the direction of the Moevenpick Hotel in Naama Bay and broke the windows of his apartment. It was unclear how far away he was from the blasts.

Door ripped off hinges
A third person, Ahmed Fawzi, an Egyptian lawyer visiting Naama Bay on business, told Reuters that one of the explosions ripped the door of his office off its hinges.

When he went outside to find out what happened, bystanders said four cars had exploded in the car park of the Moevenpick Hotel. President Hosni Mubarak has a holiday villa in the adjacent Golf Hotel.

Three tourists were killed and others injured in two bombings in the Egyptian capital Cairo in April.

Egypt’s tourism industry, based on Red Sea resorts like Sharm el-Sheikh and on its pharaonic ruins, proved resilient after earlier bombings in the Sinai peninsula in October, which killed 34. Those attacks were seen as targeting mainly Israelis.

"The blast shook my house. I can see the fire and lots of smoke," Akram al-Sherif, an Egyptian who was staying at a summer house several miles away, said.
NBC's Charlene Gubash, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

© 2005 MSNBC.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8671549/


Police: 25 Dead in Egyptian Resort Blasts

Friday, July 22, 2005

CAIRO, Egypt — At least two large explosions rocked the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik (search) at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula early Saturday, killing at least 25 people and injuring 110, police said.

The blasts shook windows miles away, and smoke and fire were visible rising from Sharm's Naama Bay, a main strip of beach hotels, witnesses said.

One blast hit the Ghazala Gardens (search) hotel, a 176-room four-star resort on the main tourist strip in the Naama Bay area of Sharm el-Sheik, witnesses said. A second blast was heard in the Old Market, another Sharm neighborhood.

"The hotel was completely burned down, destroyed," said Amal Mustafa, 28, an Egyptian who was visiting with her family and drove by the Ghazala Gardens.

Khaled Sakran, a resident, said he saw the first blast from the Old Market. "I saw the fire in the sky," he said. "Right after, I saw a light in the sky and heard another explosion, coming from Naama Bay." He said he believed there was also a third explosion.

A police official in Sharm el-Sheik said 25 were killed and 110 wounded in multiple explosions near several hotels. He could not say how many blasts occurred. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he gave the information ahead of any official announcement.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,163412,00.html



Lebanon blast hurts scores

BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 22 (UPI) -- A blast in the Lebanese capital of Beirut has hurt several people, news reports said Friday.

The explosion came hours after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to the city to reinforce U.S. support for the new government.

Gen. Ashraf Rifi, head of Lebanese internal security, said an explosive device had been placed under a car in the popular Rue Monot, known for its nightlife.

The BBC said the car was destroyed in the blast.

The country has been the scene of bombings since the Feb. 14 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was opposed to the Syrian military presence in the country.

After his death, international pressure in the form of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559 resulted in Syrian withdrawal from the country after three decades.

Other prominent anti-Syrian politicians and journalists have also been killed since then.