Egypt: Mastermind of Sinai Bombing Died in Attack
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CAIRO, Egypt – A Palestinian Arab refugee plotted the coordinated bombings targeting Israeli tourists at resorts in the Sinai and accidentally killed himself while carrying out the deadliest blast, Egyptian authorities said yesterday.
Discounting the theory of Al Qaeda involvement, an Interior Ministry statement said Ayad Said Saleh was motivated by the deteriorating situation in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip, which his relatives fled in 1967, and carried out the attack with the help of local residents.
But security officials speaking on condition of anonymity said they believed the October 7 attacks on the Taba Hilton and two beach camps packed with Israelis may have been carried out with help from Islamic groups based outside Egypt, though not necessarily Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda group.
One car bomb devastated the Hilton hotel in Taba, just yards from the Israeli border, while two others rocked tourist camps at Ras Shitan, a coastal village 35 miles further south, killing a total of 34 people, including Israelis, Egyptians, Italians, and Russians.
Egypt’s Interior Ministry said the attacks were masterminded by Saleh, a minibus driver born in the northern Sinai town of al-Arish, who was in his early 20s. Saleh was killed in the Taba Hilton bombing along with a fellow plotter, Egyptian Suleiman Ahmed Saleh Flayfil, 39.
The statement said both men, identified through DNA testing, had been trying to leave the attack scene but their timed explosives went off prematurely.
Two other suspects were said to be at large: Mohamed Ahmed Saleh Flayfil, Suleiman Flayfil’s brother, and Hammad Gaman Gomah Tarabeen. They were accused of carrying out the campground attacks.
Police also arrested five Egyptians accused of playing lower-level roles, including obtaining explosives and cars used in the attacks. The statement did not say when they were arrested or provide details of their capture.
The five are residents of the Sinai Peninsula, a territory Israel captured from Egypt in the 1967 Middle East war and returned in 1982 under terms of the first Israeli-Arab peace treaty.
The Interior Ministry said the three cars used in the bombings were stolen and the explosives were salvaged from war armaments in the Sinai. The car bombs, according to the statement, were built using spare parts from washing machines and other equipment.
A senior Egyptian official close to the investigation said that TNT obtained from a Sinai quarry and RDX explosives from war armaments were used in the attacks. RDX is a key ingredient in plastic explosives such as C-4 and Semtex.
Other officials and prosecutors said about 1,100 pounds of TNT were used in the Taba attack, while leftover munitions from the Sinai war were planted in two cars used in the Ras Shitan bombings.
The Interior Ministry statement said Saleh acted “in reaction to the deteriorating situation in the occupied territories to carry out an act targeting Israelis.” It accused Saleh of turning “to religious fanaticism” after a criminal past, including raping a young girl.
The size, targets, and coordination of the attacks, however, caused many to speculate foreign terrorists, possibly Al Qaeda, were responsible. Egypt’s Interior Ministry in yesterday’s announcement mentioned no broader conspiracy.
Still, some officials believed Saleh and his cohorts had outside help. One security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attacks appeared to be a joint operation with outside operators, though not necessarily Al Qaeda.
Another senior Egyptian security officer, who also declined to be identified, said Saleh had links to a Palestinian Arab terror group in Gaza, but would not say which one.
“Al-Qaeda’s fingerprints are evident behind these attacks,” said Abdel Rahim Ali, an expert on Islamic terrorist groups. “If they are not directly behind them, they must have incited them through their ideology and guidelines.”