Advertisement A group citing ties to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the bombings, according to a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.
The group, calling itself the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, al-Qaida, in Syria and Egypt, said that its "holy warriors targeted the Ghazala Gardens hotel and the Old Market in Sharm el-Sheikh."
"We reaffirm that this operation was in response to the crimes committed by the forces of international evil, which are spilling the blood of Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechny."
Interior Minister el-Adli had earlier on pinned the attack on Islamic militants. "This is an ugly act of terrorism," el-Adli said in a statement carried on the government news agency. "It has nothing to do with Islam, they are only acting under the slogan of Islam.
Reports indicated Egyptian security forces operating in Sinai later on Saturday arrested some 35 suspects believed to be connected to the bombing attacks.
The majority of the suspects rounded up in relation to the attacks were local Bedouin.
The bombings appeared well coordinated. Two car bombs, possibly suicide attackers, went off simultaneously at 1:15 A.M. some 4 kilometers apart. A third bomb, believed hidden in a sack, detonated around the same time near a beachside walkway where tourists often stroll at night.
At least 200 people were wounded and at least eight foreigners were among the dead. Officials said that the victims included British, Russian, Dutch, Kuwaitis, Saudis, Qataris and Egyptians.
"Many of the injuries are very serious and they are in critical condition," said a doctor at Sharm el-Sheikh International Hospital, who asked not to be named.
The Foreign Ministry reported one Israeli Arab woman was lightly injured in the blasts and was being treated in the International Hospital. Saneh Hussein from the Wadi Ara village of Musmus in northern Israel was released from hospital on Saturday afternoon.
Representatives of the Israeli embassy in Cairo were making their way to the site of the attacks to determine if any other Israeli nationals were injured in the blasts.
A string of three car bombs
Police said the explosions were caused by three car bombs in Sharm el-Sheikh and the nearby resort of Naama Bay. One blast went off in the driveway of the Ghazala Gardens hotel, a 176-room four-star resort on the main strip of hotels in Naama Bay, said the governor of South Sinai province, Mustafa Afifi.
El-Adli later said that the bombers had shot dead the security guard at the entrance to the hotel before detonating the bomb.
The reception hall of the luxury Ghazala Gardens hotel collapsed into a pancaked pile of concrete, sending terrified guests fleeing for safety, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. Rescue workers hours later said they feared more victims may be buried under the rubble.
A second car bomb exploded in a parking area near the Movenpick Hotel, also in Naama Bay, said a receptionist there who declined to identify himself.
The third detonated at a minibus parking lot in the Old Market, an area about four kilometers away, killing 17 people. A security official in the Cairo operations control room monitoring the crisis said he believed most of these casualties were Egyptians sitting at a nearby outdoor coffee shop.
Three minibuses were set ablaze, though it was not clear if they were carrying passengers, the official said.
"The [Ghazala] hotel was completely burned down, destroyed," said Amal Mustafa, 28, an Egyptian who was visiting Sharm with her family and who drove by the Ghazala Gardens.
Naama Bay has dozens of luxury hotels popular with divers and holidaymakers from Europe.
Khaled Sakran, a Sharm resident, said he saw the first blast from the Old Market. "I saw the 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."
Although the explosions took place after 1 A.M., the bazaars would have been busy with holidaymakers at this time of year because the daytime is so hot, residents said. 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. A resident living 10 km from Sharm el-Sheikh said the explosions had shaken the windows of his house.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has a holiday villa in the Golf Hotel, close to the Movenpick.
Situation roon inundates with calls
The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem has set up an emergency situation room, which is in contact with the embassy in Cairo in an effort to establish if any Israelis are among the casualties. The situation room has been inundated with calls from concerned Israelis who have family members in Sinai.
Click here for a chronology of attacks on tourist targets in Egypt.
In the run up to the Shavuot holiday several months ago, the counter-terrorism unit at the Prime Minister's Office issued a recommendation against travelling to Sinai, due to fresh intelligence it had received regarding preparations to carry out attacks. Israel's security agencies have been closely following events in the Sinai Peninsula and also recently upgraded the situation in Sinai to "very sensitive."
In October 2004, more than 30 people were killed, including Israelis, in explosions in Sinai resorts.
Jerusalem situation room: 02 - 530 3155
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak vowed to hunt down the terrorists.
A new explosive detonated on Sunday near the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt police said. It was reportedly carried by a man from a tourist bazaar. The man allegedly was carrying the bomb in a sack. It might accidentally have exploded in the area of Kufr Tuhurmus. No other injuries were reported except to the bomber himself, Sami Gamal Ahmad, who was too badly injured to be questioned. The man may have been taking the explosive to the tourist area of Kerdassa, where souvenir shops are located in a bazaar near the pyramids, said an official.

Egyptian security forces have detained 70 suspects in a sweep to find the perpetrators in Saturday's early morning bombings that killed 88 and left hundreds injured.

The police investigation of the bombings has targeted a smaller number of people than the October 2004 roundup that followed attacks in the Sinai resorts of Tabas and Ras Shitan. 3,000 people were detained for questioning in those bombings. According to Canadian ''CTV'', 200 of those people are believed to still be in custody.

A massive manhunt was undertaken in the Sinai Peninsula to identity whether it was foreigners who executed the attack. One security official speaking on the condition of anonymity told an ''Al Jazeera'' reporter that the bombers "did not appear to be locals." But the ''New York Times'' reported that Bedouin leaders were arriving at the local police headquarters, possibly over concerns that many of the suspects picked up in the prior bombing in the region were, by human rights group accounts, Bedouin.

Among the dead, officials said victims included British, Russian, Dutch, Kuwaitis, Saudis, Qataris, Czech Republic, U.S., and native Egyptians. Sixty were identified as Egyptians, and at least eight were foreigners.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said, "The whole world is getting very disturbed. The frequency of attacks seems to be mounting." Badawi chairs the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference.
 
Resort hotels are being abandoned by tourists. At the nearest international airport, hundreds are reported trying to get flights out.

Three bombs erupted in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh just after 1am. At the Ghazala Gardens hotel, work is underway to clear the destroyed reception lobby where emergency teams have gavin up the search for survivors. A car with 660 pounds of explosives drove into the hotel's driveway and detonated in an apparent suicide attack. 

The day of the bombings is marked as an Egyptian national holiday that commemorates the bloodless coup by a group of army officers that brought them to power after deposing King Farouk in 1952. Egypt has been the victim of 15 tourist attacks since October 1992.