Egypt bombs: Who's to blame?

Militants may have had international help or influence in Saturday's attacks.

CAIRO, Egypt -- Deadly, sophisticated and unexpected, the Sharm el-Sheik bombings present investigators with the same questions as those in London's attacks: Is a worldwide network of al-Qaida-inspired operatives at work or is a new crop of homegrown militants plotting and carrying out terror on their own?

Egyptian security officials said the Sharm bombings, the deadliest terror attack in Egypt, were most likely the work of homegrown militants, possibly members of a group thought to be responsible for similar bombings nine months ago, also in Red Sea resorts.

However, there are indications those militants may have had international help or influence in Saturday's attacks in Sharm and those of last October.

One sign is tactics: In both cases, car bombs, and possibly suicide bombers, were used, something that was rarely seen when Islamic militants fought President Hosni Mubarak's regime in the 1990s. Simultaneous blasts have been used in past attacks in which al-Qaida's influence is seen -- in London, in Madrid and in Iraq.

A Pakistani link in the Sharm bombings also is being investigated, with police launching a manhunt for five Pakistani men Monday. However, a senior government official said the Pakistanis had overstayed their visa and may not necessarily be connected to the bombings.

Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, said Monday that al-Qaida was too weak to organize terrorist attacks from his country. But U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has said the attacks in Egypt and London appear to be the work of al-Qaida. And in London, Police Commissioner Ian Blair said he believes al-Qaida-linked terrorists were involved in both the deadly July 7 and the failed July 21 attacks on the London Underground.

Musharraf did acknowledge that small groups of al-Qaida militants might still be hiding in Pakistan's North and South Waziristan tribal regions, where Pakistani security forces have carried out several operations. Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is believed to be in that area.

An al-Qaida-linked group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, has claimed responsibility for the Sharm blasts and the October bombings in Taba and another resort. The previously unknown Holy Warriors of Egypt also said it carried out the attacks.

During the 1990s, Egyptian authorities promoted the notion of a link between homegrown terror and foreign nations to ward off claims that economic woes and the lack of democracy were behind the rise of militancy.

But they have so far avoided suggesting an al-Qaida link to the Sharm and Taba attacks, partly so as not to appear vulnerable.