Christians Under Attack

After bombings at Bali, Taba and Sharm el Sheikh there was a horrible sense of déjà vu last night as tourists staggered through bomb craters looking forlornly for friends and relatives.

Witnesses described seeing body parts in the smouldering wreckage and blood splashed across the pavements where moments earlier tourists in their twenties had been enjoying an evening stroll.

"I heard three bombs - boom, boom, boom," said Yasser, the owner of the nearby Bedouin Lodge Hotel. "I did not know what happened," he added.

"People were running away and people were shouting and crying.

"Everybody was screaming and shouting and most people were crying. I saw injured people being carried to hospital."

Quentin d'Aspremont, a Belgian tourist, said: "The blasts took place at very short intervals, in the busiest part of town. The street was littered with debris and I could see pools of blood."

The attacks were the third to hit the area in the past two years and appeared to be a repeat of last July's triple bombing in Sharm el Sheikh, two hours drive south of Dahab, that killed 63 people including 11 British tourists.

In Sharm, an upmarket holiday destination and favourite retreat of Tony Blair and his family, three devices went off almost simultaneously at sites chosen because they were full of western tourists.

Dahab, a more low-budget haunt for backpackers, hippy nostalgics and diving fanatics, is too downmarket for swanky hotels so the bombers lowered their sights accordingly. They attacked seaside venues with names like the Aladdin Café, the Nelson Restaurant and the Ghazala Supermarket.

Witnesses agreed that the bombs went off within a few minutes of each other, around 7pm when the seafront was teeming with tourists at the end of a busy day sunbathing, snorkelling or, in Dahab's finest tradition, chilling.

State television initially said the devices appeared to be remote-controlled devices but later there were suggestions that the blasts may have been the work of suicide bombers. Yesterday's attack was the third in the Red Sea tourist area in the past 18 months and was instantly condemned by world leaders.

"I utterly condemn these appalling bombings in Dahab, which have been targeted at a popular resort and on an Egyptian public holiday," said Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary. "Once again terrorists have demonstrated their callous disregard for human life."

Yesterday was Sham el-Nessim, a traditional holiday to mark the turning of the seasons from winter to spring and the area was more crowded with Egyptian tourists than usual. The resort attracts thousands of divers each year for the coral reefs in the crystal waters of the Red Sea.

Originally a tiny Bedouin village it long enjoyed a reputation as a haunt of hippies although heavy investment in recent years has attempted to raise the quality of its hotels and facilities. Desert trails crisscross the rocky hinterland of the Sinai Peninsula behind Dahab and it is possible the bombers or their accomplices escaped with the help of local Bedouin.

Concerned relatives can call the Foreign Office hotline on 020 7008 0000.

By Tim Butcher