Eight Egyptians have been arrested and accused of plotting the nearly simultaneous car bombings of a hotel and tourist camp in the Sinai that killed at least 34 people earlier this month. In a statement Monday, the Interior Ministry also said the mastermind of the attacks, identified as Palestinian Ayad Said Salah, died in the Oct. 7 explosion at the hotel along with a fellow plotter, Egyptian Suleiman Ahmed Saleh Flayfil. The Taba Hilton was heavily damaged in the worst of three near-simultaneous Oct. 7 blasts blamed on terrorists. Two other car bombs exploded at bungalow campgrounds in Ras Shitan, also in the Sinai Peninsula. The resorts were packed with Israeli tourists who had traveled down during a Jewish holiday.
