Patterns apparent in Taba attack
From Brian Todd
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The sheared-off building, twisted metal, and high body count aren't the only familiar characteristics here. When terrorism experts see the carnage in Taba, Egypt, the immediate pattern of attack is telltale: simultaneous bombings, maximum casualties and a broader intent.
"This is a way of attacking Egypt's economy, Egypt's government, attacking Israel. It's also parenthetically attacking an American-owned company, the Hilton Hotel, where this happened. Al Qaeda has been attacking American hotels around the world," says Peter Bergen, CNN terrorism analyst .
Three obscure groups claim responsibility for the bombings in Egypt and Israeli officials link the attacks to al Qaeda.
Experts say: Look beyond the claims.
"The name is meaningless to me. Osama bin Laden is not the world's mastermind terrorist. Osama bin Laden lit a fuse ... and those groups, this Islamic Brotherhood of groups with an ideology, are going after one thing and that's instability," says Ken Robinson, CNN's military intelligence analyst.
Has it worked? The attack in Taba closely resembles at least two others.
In October 2002, nearly simultaneous bombings at two nightclubs in the resort of Bali, Indonesia, killed more than 200 people, many of them Australian vacationers.
About six weeks later, suicide bombers blew up an Israeli-owned hotel at another resort in Mombasa, Kenya. Twelve people were killed.
A nearly simultaneous missile attack on an Israeli charter plane failed. But here's how experts describe the lasting impact, in that region of Kenya.
"Since the attacks occurred there, their economy is on the verge of disaster right now. And simultaneously there is a strong building going on of minarets. You see new mosques popping up in a lot of places and you see a lot of the gaps being filled from what the country can provide to these Islamic organizations that are helping," says CNN's Robinson.
And each expert we spoke to says to look for more of the same: soft targets, resorts with famous Western influences in countries desperate for tourists, but unable to take care of all the needs of their own citizens.
