Dahab bombing
Apparently there was a bombing in Dahab a few hours ago around 7:15PM. Reports are pretty vague as of now. It has been reported that the “beduin” restaurant Al Capone was destroyed which means that at least the heart of the ‘tourist’ place has been hit and 7PM is normally one the busiest time. You can see the restaurant as well as the area in the entry I posted on December 18, 2005.
I’m waiting for some more info from people I have been hanging out with from mid-december to end of february.
Update: I received an email from Fred who is in Dahab right now (I have been doing rock climbing and freediving with him at Desert Divers) giving me news about the situation:
[...]There were 3 explosions last night at 7pm, designed to catch people escaping from one to another. The first was at Capone restaurant next to the bridge, then about 20 seconds later, outside the chinese restaurant on the other side, then about 10 seconds later, outside the Ghazala supermarket at the bottom of the little shopping street.
Very nasty and surreal situation. I don’t think the western media will be able to portray what really happened as it was very shocking.[...]
As far as I heard from via a friend who lives in Dahab, one bomb exploded at Al Ghazala Supermarket, one at Aladdin restaurant (which is second or third after the bridge, as far as I remember) and one at a hotel.
Comment by Jacqueline — April 25, 2006 @ 10:15 am
I hope The Sun paid you for using your picture http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006190106,00.html .
I have a PDF if the site has been removed.
Comment by Steve — April 25, 2006 @ 2:20 pm
No The Sun did not even contact me. It’s especially lame since they altered the picture by cropping it to remove my copyright section. The picture above with the caption “Emergency … cops and ambulances near carnage” is crap as well. There is no such building in Dahab and certainly not close to place where bombs exploded…from the picture it looks like an Israeli police car so clearly the picture must be from Israel.
Another news channel did contact me and actually asked to use some pictures but changed their mind later on. At least there is still some deontology left in this world.
Comment by stephane — April 25, 2006 @ 2:26 pm
At this time, The Sun has now removed my picture from the article, though they keep the unrelated one obviouslly from Israel
Comment by stephane — April 25, 2006 @ 11:06 pm
Question: Is Al Capone’s restaurant in Dahab named after the Chicago gangster, or does it have another meaning in Arabic?
Comment by richard — April 26, 2006 @ 5:34 am
p.s. I had lunch at Al Capone’s in March.
Comment by richard — April 26, 2006 @ 5:35 am