Deadly blast in Egypt-Israel border hotel

10.45am

A huge blast has torn through an Egyptian hotel used by vacationing Israelis at the border resort of Taba, scattering dozens of bodies in what Israeli security sources said was a suspected bomb attack.

At least 23 people were killed in the attack on the Hilton hotel, just metres from the border crossing, Arab television said, quoting Egyptian sources.

The blast was followed shortly by explosions at two other resort towns in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula popular with Israelis.

Israeli media said the Hilton hotel was ablaze and 10 floors of it had collapsed. Israeli rescue teams rushed to the scene.

"I heard a huge explosion. The wall near me collapsed and people began to run. There were many casualties," one Israeli witness called Yigal told Israel's Army Radio.

"The explosion was outside. When we went out we saw the shops and the internal wall of the hotel had collapsed...

"Some people said it was a gas canister explosion and others said it was a terrorist attack. There are a lot of people (lying on the ground). There is a lot of blood, a lot of screaming."

Israeli security forces had warned Israeli travellers against visiting Egyptian resorts on the Red Sea, saying they might be targeted by Palestinian militants waging a 4-year-old uprising or by Islamic groups.

Senior Israeli security sources said they suspected the explosion "was a terrorist attack".

"We are not absolutely sure, but this is what it looks like," said one senior source.

The radio stations reported explosions in the Egyptian resorts of Nueiba and Ras al-Sultan dozens of kilometres to the south-west of Taba where the first explosion occurred. Thousands of Israelis have travelled to Egypt's Sinai peninsula, a popular holiday destination, during the Sukkot holiday. Witnesses said there were also many Russians at the hotel.

Sinai was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war but returned to Egypt after a 1979 peace deal, one of the few that Israel has with Arab countries.

Israeli firefighters and ambulances rushed to Taba after an initial delay. Officials in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said he had contacted Egyptian officials to ensure they could cross.

Hundreds of Israelis have been killed in suicide bombings during four years of conflict with the Palestinians. Egyptian resorts had remained popular with Israelis despite popular animosity in Egypt to the Jewish state.

- REUTERS