Aug 1, 2005
Egyptian police have shot dead one of the prime suspects in the July 23 Sharm el-Sheikh bombings which killed at least 64 people, the Interior Ministry have said.
Mohamed Fulayfel was killed in an exchange of fire with police near Gebel Ataqa, a hill 11 miles west of the town of Suez.
His wife was also killed in the fire fight and their four-year-old daughter was injured.
An Interior Ministry statement said that security forces approached a group hiding in quarries in near Gebel Ataqa after being given a tip-off.
As they approached the area, gunmen opened fire at them.
"The police forces immediately dealt with the source of fire and it became clear that Mohamed Ahmed Saleh Fulayfel had been killed. He was in the company of his wife, who was wounded and taken to hospital for treatment," it said.
Fulayfel's wife died on the way to hospital, the security sources said.
Fulayfel was also on trial in absentia for bombings at three Red Sea resorts in October 2004. One bomb, at the Hilton hotel in the town of Taba, killed 34 people.
His brother Suleiman was killed in the Hilton hotel blast, along with a Palestinian man who police said was the mastermind of the operation. Police said they died because the timing device did not work properly.
The Shard-el-Sheikh bomb killed 64.