2005 Sharm El Sheikh bombings
The 2005 Sharm El Sheikh bombings were committed by Islamist group Abdullah Azzam Brigades on 23 July 2005 in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El Sheikh, at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. Eighty-eight people were killed by the three bombings, the majority of them Egyptians, and over 200 were injured, making the attack the deadliest terrorist action in the history of Egypt, until it was surpassed by the 2017 Sinai mosque attack.
2005 Sharm El Sheikh bombings
The attack took place on Egypt's Revolution Day, a public holiday, and was part of a strategy of damaging tourism in the country, a major part of the economy.
After the attacks, many arrests took place, especially of the Bedouin in the Sinai, who allegedly aided the attack, and Egypt started erecting a separation barrier around the city, cutting it off from possible attacks and the nearby Bedouin community.[1]
Responsibility[edit]
A group calling itself the Abdullah Azzam Brigades was the first to claim responsibility for the attacks. On a website the group stated that "holy warriors targeted the Ghazala Gardens hotel and the Old Market in Sharm El Sheikh" and claimed it has ties to al-Qaeda.[3]
The government said that the bombers were Bedouin militants from the same group that carried out the 2004 Sinai bombings in Taba.[4] Arrested suspects claimed to have been motivated by the War in Iraq.[5]