Egypt police say identifying Dahab suicide bombers

ISMAILIA, Egypt, May 7 (Reuters) Egyptian police are working to identify the remains of three men they suspect of carrying out suicide bombings in the Sinai resort of Dahab that killed 19 people last month, security sources today said The men were part of a group of 25 people, including farmers and religious leaders, the sources said, adding some of the group were wanted in connection with bombings in Taba and other nearby resorts in October 2004.

Initial investigations had identified two of the suicide bombers as Attallah el-Sweirky and Mohammed Abdel Aziz. Their heads were found at the site of the bombs. DNA tests were under way to confirm their identities, the sources said.

''The identity of the third suicide bomber in the Dahab explosions is being confirmed,'' one of the sources said.

The government has blamed a group of Sinai Bedouin, which had its origins in the Mediterranean town of El Arish, for four other bombings at resorts in the Sinai coast and in northern Sinai over the past two years.

Police had detained three men from the list of 25, the sources said, naming them as Hatem Muslim Rasheed el-Atrash, Faiz Eid Awda Abu Zeih and Suleiman Saleem Khadr el-Shenoub, the sources said.

Last week, security forces killed six of the wanted men. A police officer was killed and two others wounded in gunbattles with the wanted men.

Egyptian police have been hunting the bombers behind the attacks in the mountainous area of northern Sinai.

Reuters SB RS2107