Suspect Identified in Egypt Attacks

Investigators identified an Egyptian as a possible suicide bomber in terrorist attacks last weekend at this Red Sea resort and were searching Tuesday for other suspects.

A relative of Moussa Badran said he disappeared after deadly attacks at two other Sinai resorts in October and that some family members were detained afterward.

The development came as two security officials revealed that authorities received information about an imminent attack in Sharm el Sheik several days before Saturday’s bombings. But they believed that casinos would be targeted, so security was increased around those sites rather than hotels.

The two officials, both close to the inquiry, spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not authorized for release.

Security was heightened around casinos on the theory that they would be attacked because many Israelis come to the resort for gambling, which is banned in their country.

The government has sacked the heads of security in North and South Sinai provinces, an apparent sign of the failures that may have allowed the assault on one of Egypt’s most closely guarded tourist towns. The attacks killed up to 88 people.

Police had been looking at two bodies found at the Ghazala Gardens Hotel as possibly those of bombers because the remains were dismembered. DNA tests identified one as that of Badran, an Egyptian resident of Sinai who police said had links to Islamic militants.

The second body was still being tested. A third body, found in Sharm’s Old Market, the site of another truck explosion, is also being examined as that of a possible bomber.

Badran, a resident of Sheik Zawaid, a town near Arish in northern Sinai, fled the family home soon after October terrorist attacks at two other Red Sea resorts, Taba and Ras Shitan, his stepmother said.

Hours after the Sharm el Sheik blasts, police took DNA samples from Badran’s father and siblings and from other families with relatives who have gone into hiding since October, his stepmother, Mariam Sawarka, said.

Israel warned Israelis a year ago not to visit Egypt, and especially Sinai, because of the possibility that terrorists would attack tourist sites.

Security officials in Arish said that they were looking for two other people from the area, Moussa Ayad Suleiman Awda and Ahmed Ibrahim Hamad Ibrahim, in connection with the attacks.