Aftermath of Taba massacre, 8.10.2004.
Aftermath of Taba massacre, 8.10.2004.Israel news photo: Flash 90

 

Members of the Bedouin terror cells that carried out massacres of tourists in Sinai in 2004 and 2005 have escaped from their jails in Sinai, according to sources in Egyptian intelligence quoted by the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency. The sources said some 50 prisoners from the Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad group escaped to unknown locations. In addition, a Hizbullah unit also escaped from jail.
 
The Taba Hilton was attacked on October 7, 2004, by a truck full of explosives that drove into the hotel's lobby and exploded, killing 31 people and wounding 159 others. Ten floors of the hotel collapsed as a result of the detonation. Nine of the dead were Israelis, two of them children.
 
Some 50 kilometers south, at a campsite near Nuweiba, a car parked in front of a restaurant at the Moon Island resort exploded, killing two Israelis.   
 
Some of the terrorists were killed in the blasts and others were executed by Egyptian authorities. Still others were incarcerated - and appear now to have escaped.
 
Ma'an also reported that three officers in the Egyptian Police disappeared Friday in northern Sinai. They had been on their way to El Arish when they were last heard from. There are assessments that the three have been abducted or murdered.