From AFP, July 26:

Egyptian police exchanged fire with gunmen on Monday 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 kilometers (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 that fighting ended late on Monday. There were no reported injuries or arrests but the police left a small contingent to watch the area.

[...]

Saturday's pre-dawn attacks, which analysts said were an attempt to destabilize Egypt in the run-up to the first competitive presidential elections on September 7, were first claimed by an Al Qaeda-linked group.

Another group calling itself Mujahideen Egypt also claimed the attacks on an Islamic Website and gave the names of five "martyrs".

[...]

A third previously unknown Islamist group posted an Internet statement on Tuesday claiming the weekend's deadly bombings in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh. The Unity and Jihad Group in Egypt said that it carried out the attacks "in revenge for our brothers in Iraq and Afghanistan ... and in response to the war against terror".

"It was also out of loyalty to the leaders of the mujahideen within the Al Qaeda network, Sheikh Osama Bin Laden and Sheikh Ayman Al Zawahiri, may God preserve them," said the statement, the authenticity of which could not be verified.