Egypt police open fire in hunt for Pakistani bombing suspects

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt Tuesday (AFP) Egyptian police exchanged fire with gunmen as they hunted for six Pakistanis suspected of involvement in deadly bombings in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The firefight with Bedouin gunmen erupted in the mountainous interior of the Sinai peninsula some 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the scene of Saturday's carnage on the coast, security officials said. It came after police surrounded the nearby villages of Khurum and Rweissat in overnight raids, they said.

"Two Pakistanis had been staying there and it is suspected that the bombs were assembled in this area," an intelligence source said.

The source said fighting ended late Monday. There were no reported injuries or arrests but the police left a small contingent to watch the area.

Pictures of the six Pakistanis believed to have entered Egypt in early July were distributed to police stations in the Sharm el-Sheikh area after the attacks, which followed another bombing spree in Sinai resorts in October.

Their passports were found in an unspecified Sharm el-Sheikh hotel, police said, adding that one of them may have died in the deadly bombings but stressing that the Pakistanis were not necessarily the bombers.

Pakistani authorities said they had yet to be approached by their Egyptian counterparts about the six suspects.

Pictures of more than 30 other suspects were also distributed, mostly Egyptians but including some internationally wanted terror suspects.

At least 130 people have been arrested in a police dragnet as part of the massive search for the perpetrators of the attack on a hotel, a market and a parking lot that came on the heels of deadly bombings in London.

Meanwhile the Egyptian ambassador to Pakistan on Tuesday denied reports that Pakistani nationals were involved in the weekend bomb attacks in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh that killed at least 64 people.

The ambassador, Hussein Haridy, said six Pakistanis being sought by Egyptian police had nothing to do with the blasts.

"We deny categorically any links between Pakistani nationals and Sharm el-Sheikh blasts," Haridy told Reuters.

"As far as Pakistan is concerned, it is categorically denied, and about other foreign nationals the investigations are going on," he added.

Egyptian security sources had said that police were searching for the Pakistanis to find out why they had disappeared after the bombings.

Haridy said the six Pakistanis were being sought for their own security.

"This is a routine security check that happens anywhere in the world."