2005 Sharm el-Sheikh attacks
Encyclopedia
The 2005 Sharm el-Sheikh attacks were a series of terror attacks on July 23, 2005, perpetrated by an Islamist organization, targeting the Egypt
ian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh
, located on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula
. Eighty-eight people were killed, the majority of them Egyptians, and over 200 were wounded by the blasts, making the attack the deadliest terrorist
action in the country's history.
The bombings coincided with Egypt's Revolution Day, which commemorates Nasser
's 1952 overthrow of King Farouk
. They were intended to hurt one of Egypt's most important vacation spots, a tourism capital that had billions of dollars invested in it, and achieved that goal as it was registered that many tourists vacated and there were numerous cancellations.
As a response, there were many arrests, especially of the Bedouin
in the Sinai who allegedly aided the attack, and Egypt started erecting a separation barrier
around the city, cutting it off from possible attacks and the nearby Bedouin community.
in downtown Sharm el-Sheikh, killing 17 people, mostly Egyptians. The bomber had to abandon his truck bomb in the market because of a police roadblock. The second bomb was hidden in a suitcase and exploded outside the Moevenpick Hotel, killing six tourists. The final bomb was a truck bomb that was driven into the lobby of the Ghazala Gardens hotel
, a 176-room four-star establishment in the Naama Bay area, a strip of beach
front hotels some 6 km from the town centre. About 45 people died in this blast.
The blasts were powerful, shaking windows miles away. Fire and smoke could be seen rising from the explosion sites.
While the official government toll a few days after the blast was put at 64, hospitals reported that 88 people had been killed in the bombings.
The majority of dead and wounded casualties were Egyptians
. Among those killed were 11 Britons
, two Germans
, six Italians
, four Turks
, one Czech
, one Israel
i, and one American
. Other casualties, dead and wounded, included foreign visitors from France
, Kuwait
, the Netherlands
, Qatar
, Russia
, and Spain
.
the group stated that "holy warriors targeted the Ghazala Gardens hotel and the Old Market in Sharm el-Sheikh" and claimed it has ties to Al-Qaeda
.
The Egyptian government said that the bombers were Bedouin militants from the same group that carried out the bombings in Taba
a year before. Arrested suspects claimed to have been motivated by the War in Iraq.
On March 6th, 2011, following the 2011 Egyptian Revolution
, and the storming of the headquarters of the notorious State Security Intelligence
, documents revealing that said organization planned the attacks to settle a dispute between businessman Hussein Salem
and Gamal Mubarak
. The initial targets were all resorts and hotels owned by Salem, but the group executing the plan changed the targets, and even the method, resorting to remote controlled detonation rather than suicide car bombing.
and opposition to the Mubarak
government, and attacking foreigners including non-Muslims while hurting Egypt's tourist trade was seen as serving both goals.
The most bloody attack prior to the Sharm el-Sheikh bombings was the November 1997 Luxor massacre
, in which 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians died. In October 2004, a series of bomb attacks
killed 34 people in Taba
, also on the Sinai Peninsula. In April 2005 Cairo
was hit by two days of terrorist violence
, in which three foreign tourists were killed.
Unlike the October 2004 attacks, this attack does not appear to have been directed in particular against Israel
is, for whom Sharm is a popular destination. However, one Israeli Arab was killed and another, Saneh Hussein, was injured.
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh
Sharm el-Sheikh
Sharm el-Sheikh is a city situated on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, Egypt, on the coastal strip along the Red Sea. Its population is approximately 35,000...
, located on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula
Sinai Peninsula
The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about in area. It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia as opposed to Africa, effectively serving as a land bridge between two...
. Eighty-eight people were killed, the majority of them Egyptians, and over 200 were wounded by the blasts, making the attack the deadliest terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
action in the country's history.
The bombings coincided with Egypt's Revolution Day, which commemorates Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
's 1952 overthrow of King Farouk
Farouk of Egypt
Farouk I of Egypt , was the tenth ruler from the Muhammad Ali Dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1936....
. They were intended to hurt one of Egypt's most important vacation spots, a tourism capital that had billions of dollars invested in it, and achieved that goal as it was registered that many tourists vacated and there were numerous cancellations.
As a response, there were many arrests, especially of the Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
in the Sinai who allegedly aided the attack, and Egypt started erecting a separation barrier
Separation barrier
A separation barrier is a wall or fence constructed to limit the movement of people across a certain line or border, or to separate two populations. These structures vary in placement with regard to international borders and topography...
around the city, cutting it off from possible attacks and the nearby Bedouin community.
Explosions
The attacks took place in the early morning hours, at a time when many tourists and locals were still out at restaurants, cafés and bars. The first bomb blast, at 01:15 local time (22:15 UTC), happened at the Old Market bazaarBazaar
A bazaar , Cypriot Greek: pantopoula) is a permanent merchandising area, marketplace, or street of shops where goods and services are exchanged or sold. The term is sometimes also used to refer to the "network of merchants, bankers and craftsmen" who work that area...
in downtown Sharm el-Sheikh, killing 17 people, mostly Egyptians. The bomber had to abandon his truck bomb in the market because of a police roadblock. The second bomb was hidden in a suitcase and exploded outside the Moevenpick Hotel, killing six tourists. The final bomb was a truck bomb that was driven into the lobby of the Ghazala Gardens hotel
Ghazala Gardens hotel
The Ghazala Gardens hotel was a 176-room, four-star establishment in the Naama Bay area of the Egyptian beach resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, on the Sinai Peninsula. Its sister hotel, the Ghazala, is across the street and is substantially larger...
, a 176-room four-star establishment in the Naama Bay area, a strip of beach
Beach
A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
front hotels some 6 km from the town centre. About 45 people died in this blast.
The blasts were powerful, shaking windows miles away. Fire and smoke could be seen rising from the explosion sites.
Casualties
The majority of dead and wounded casualties were Egyptians
Egyptians
Egyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...
. Among those killed were 11 Britons
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, two Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
, six Italians
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
, four Turks
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
, one Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, one Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i, and one American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Other casualties, dead and wounded, included foreign visitors from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
Responsibility
A group calling itself the Abdullah Azzam Brigades was the first to claim responsibility for the attacks. On a websiteWebsite
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
the group stated that "holy warriors targeted the Ghazala Gardens hotel and the Old Market in Sharm el-Sheikh" and claimed it has ties to Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
.
The Egyptian government said that the bombers were Bedouin militants from the same group that carried out the bombings in Taba
2004 Sinai bombings
The 2004 Sinai bombings were three bomb attacks targeting tourist hotels in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, on October 7, 2004. The attacks killed 34 people and injured 171.-The bombings:...
a year before. Arrested suspects claimed to have been motivated by the War in Iraq.
On March 6th, 2011, following the 2011 Egyptian Revolution
2011 Egyptian revolution
The 2011 Egyptian revolution took place following a popular uprising that began on Tuesday, 25 January 2011 and is still continuing as of November 2011. The uprising was mainly a campaign of non-violent civil resistance, which featured a series of demonstrations, marches, acts of civil...
, and the storming of the headquarters of the notorious State Security Intelligence
State Security Intelligence
The Egyptian State Security Investigations Service was the highest national investigating authority in Egypt. Estimated to employ 100,000 people, the SSI was the main security apparatus of Egypt's Ministry of Interior and had the role of controlling opposition groups, both armed groups and those...
, documents revealing that said organization planned the attacks to settle a dispute between businessman Hussein Salem
Hussein Salem
Hussein Salem , is an Egyptian businessman, co-owner of the East Mediterranean Gas Company , and ally and advisor to former president Hosni Mubarak. He is also the chairman and CEO of HKS Group, a hospitality company that operates Maritim Jolie Ville Resort in Sharm El Sheikh...
and Gamal Mubarak
Gamal Mubarak
Gamal Al Din Mohammed Hosni Sayed Mubarak , , is the younger of the two sons of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and former First Lady Suzanne Mubarak...
. The initial targets were all resorts and hotels owned by Salem, but the group executing the plan changed the targets, and even the method, resorting to remote controlled detonation rather than suicide car bombing.
Background
Historically, foreign tourists have been a common target of attacks dating back to the early 1990s. Militants have typically been motivated by a combination of QutbismQutbism
Qutbism is a strain of Sunni Islamist ideology and activism, based on the thought and writings of Sayyid Qutb, an Islamist and former leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood who was executed in 1966. It has been described as advancing the ideology of jihadism, i.e...
and opposition to the Mubarak
Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....
government, and attacking foreigners including non-Muslims while hurting Egypt's tourist trade was seen as serving both goals.
The most bloody attack prior to the Sharm el-Sheikh bombings was the November 1997 Luxor massacre
November 1997 Luxor massacre
The Luxor Massacre refers to the killing of 62 people, mostly tourists, that took place on 17 November 1997, at Deir el-Bahri, an archaeological site and major tourist attraction located across the River Nile from Luxor in Egypt....
, in which 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians died. In October 2004, a series of bomb attacks
2004 Sinai bombings
The 2004 Sinai bombings were three bomb attacks targeting tourist hotels in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, on October 7, 2004. The attacks killed 34 people and injured 171.-The bombings:...
killed 34 people in Taba
Taba (Egypt)
Taba is a small Egyptian town near the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. Taba is the location of Egypt's busiest border crossing with neighboring Israel. Little more than a bus depot and a luxury hotel , Taba is a frequent vacation spot for Egyptians and tourists, especially those from Israel on...
, also on the Sinai Peninsula. In April 2005 Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
was hit by two days of terrorist violence
April 2005 terrorist attacks in Cairo
The April 2005 attacks were three related incidents that took place in the city of Cairo, Egypt, on 7 April and 30 April 2005.The latter two incidents are generally considered to have been minor, in that they caused no loss of life other than those of the perpetrators and appear not to have been...
, in which three foreign tourists were killed.
Unlike the October 2004 attacks, this attack does not appear to have been directed in particular against Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
is, for whom Sharm is a popular destination. However, one Israeli Arab was killed and another, Saneh Hussein, was injured.
External links
- Toll climbs in Egyptian attacks
- Blasts kill 83 in Egyptian Red Sea resort (ReutersReutersReuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
) - Scores die in Sharm El-Sheikh car bombs (Al-AhramAl-AhramAl-Ahram , founded in 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya . It is majority owned by the Egyptian government....
)
- Background
- Attacks on tourist targets in Egypt, 1992–2005 (ReutersReutersReuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
) - Egypt's grim catalogue of tourist attacks (Al JazeeraAl JazeeraAl Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
) - Tentacles in Sinai The nexus of smuggling, Islamism, and terrorism.
- Attacks on tourist targets in Egypt, 1992–2005 (Reuters