Egyptian police have exchanged fire with armed men as they search for six Pakistanis suspected of involvement in deadly bombings in the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Shaikh.
The Monday firefight with Bedouin men erupted in the mountainous interior of the Sinai peninsula about 30 km from the scene of Saturday’s attacks on the coast, security officials said.
“Two Pakistanis had been staying there, and it is suspected that the bombs were assembled in this area,” an intelligence source said.
Pictures of the six Pakistanis believed to have entered Egypt in early July were distributed to police stations in the Sharm al-Shaikh area after the attacks, which followed another bombing spree in Sinai resorts in October.
These five Pakistanis are wanted by Egyptian Authorities
These five Pakistani Nationals are wanted by Egyptian police for questioning about the Saturday blasts in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. They are (Left to Right) Mohammed Aref, Mohammed Anwar, Rashid Ali, Musaddeq Hussein, and Mohammed Akhtar
Security forces hunted through rugged desert mountains Monday for militants suspected in the bombings in this Red Sea resort, and investigators said attackers may have been killed in all three explosions — either accidentally or as suicide bombers.
Police at checkpoints around Sharm el-Sheik, meanwhile, were circulating photographs of the five Pakistanis believed to have come to the area from Cairo earlier this month, at least two investigators said.
DNA tests were being run on two bodies that could be those of bombers, one believed to be Egyptian, the other a foreigner, a security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the release of details in the probe had not been authorized.
An American was one of the dead from the blasts on Saaturday Night:
Las Vegas native Kristina Miller took time out from celebrating her 27th birthday with her British boyfriend in Egypt to speak with her father by phone, telling him that she loved him.
Hours later, she was dead — killed along with the boyfriend in the bombings Saturday at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik.
