2004 Sinai bombings

2004 Sinai bombings
Hilton Taba Ras al-Shitan
Location	Taba and Nuweiba, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
Coordinates	29°07′24.43″N 34°41′05.12″E / 29.1234528°N 34.6847556°E / 29.1234528; 34.6847556 29°29′24.20″N 34°53′58.50″E / 29.4900556°N 34.8995833°E / 29.4900556; 34.8995833
Date	7 October 2004
Attack type	car bombings
Deaths	34
Non-fatal injuries	171
Perpetrators	masterminded by Iyad Saleh and carried out by a Palestinian group
Motive	presumably the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

The 2004 Sinai bombings were three bomb attacks targeting tourist hotels in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, on 7 October 2004. The attacks killed 34 people and injured 171.

The explosions occurred on the night of 7 October, against the Hilton Taba and campsites used by Israelis in Ras al-Shitan. In the Taba attack, a truck drove into the lobby of the Taba Hilton and exploded, killing 31 people and wounding some 159 others. Ten floors of the hotel collapsed following the blast.

Some 50 kilometers (31 mi) south, at campsites at Ras al-Shitan, near Nuweiba, two more bombings happened. A car parked in front of a restaurant at the Moon Island resort exploded, killing two Israelis and a Bedouin. Twelve were wounded. Another blast happened moments later, targeting the Baddiyah camp, but did not harm anyone because the bomber had apparently been scared off from entering the campground by a guard.

Of the 34 who were killed, 18 were Egyptians, 12 were from Israel, two from Italy, one from Russia, and one was an Israeli-American.

According to the Egyptian government, the bombers were Palestinians who had tried to enter Israel to carry out attacks there but were unsuccessful. They claimed that the mastermind, Iyad Saleh, recruited Egyptians and Bedouins to find explosives to be used in the attacks. Beginning in March 2004, the bombers used washing machine timers, mobile phones and modified gas cylinders to build the bombs. They used TNT and old explosives found in the Sinai (as it was many times a war zone), which were purchased from Bedouins, to complete the bombs. Egypt has said that Saleh and one of his aides, Suleiman Ahmed Saleh Flayfil, died in the Hilton blast, apparently because their bomb timer had run out too fast.