 The Arab world reacted in horror and outrage Tuesday at the bombings of an Egyptian resort — and a rift opened between hardline al-Qaida sympathizers and other radical Muslim groups who say the latest attacks have gone too far.
| "Youse can't kill Moose limbs! Yer supposed to kill infidels, dammit!" |
Three bombs ripped through a promenade in Egypt's Dahab resort at dusk Monday, killing at least 24 — most of them Egyptians on a holiday marking the first day of spring.
| Latest figure is 30 dead... |
The attack, the third on Sinai in less than two years, came a day after Osama bin Laden issued a call to arms to Muslims to support al-Qaida in what he calls a war against Islam.
| So you're saying it's not rogue Bedouins? |
Bin Laden specifically tried to justify attacks against civilians, and tried to align his group with the radical Hamas, which now runs the Palestinian government.
| Understandable, since they're in much the same line of work... |
But Hamas and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood were as quick to condemn the Dahab attacks as they were when terrorists carried out a triple bombing Nov. 9 at Amman, Jordan hotels, that killed 63 people.
| Another set of attacks where the victims were Arabs, not Jews or Christians... |
Those attacks provoked howls of outrage against al-Qaida in Iraq, which claimed responsibility. "The attack on Egypt brings back bad memories," said Muhannad Abul-Ghanam, a 37-year-old Jordanian businessman. "The result is the same — mainly Muslim Arabs died and there's more public hatred toward these militants."
| "If it had been infidels, who would have minded? Except for the guys that own the hotels, of course..." |
Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-run Palestinian Cabinet, called the Dahab bombings a "criminal attack which is against all human values."
| "Hamas attacks are entirely different, y'see..." |
Radical Muslim groups — like Hamas and the Brotherhood — have in recent months joined a regional chorus denouncing al-Qaida and its sympathizers for targeting Arab and Muslim civilians. "These groups, in the name of religion, justify such acts in which innocent people are killed," said Hassan Naboulsi, a 32-year-old supporter of the militant Lebanese Hezbollah faction in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. |