Saturday's explosions at 1:15 a.m. shook windows more than five miles away. Smoke and fire rose from Naama Bay, a main strip of beach hotels in the desert city popular with Israeli and European tourists, witnesses said.
At least four car bombs were used in the attacks, said a security official in the operations control room in Cairo monitoring the crisis. One went off in the driveway of the Ghazala Garden hotel, a 176-room four-star resort on the main strip of hotels in Naama Bay, the official said.
Another exploded in the Old Market, a few miles away, killing 17 people — believed to be Egyptians — sitting at a nearby outdoor coffee shop. Three minibuses were set ablaze, though it was not clear if they were carrying passengers, the official said.
A police official in Sharm el-Sheik said at least 36 people were killed and 150 wounded in what may have been as many as seven blasts, three in Naamah Bay and four in the Old Market







