An Egyptian diplomat today ruled out the involvement of Pakistan nationals as the hunt continued for culprits behind the weekend’s bomb attacks on the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Egyptian police circulated photographs of five Pakistani men at checkpoints in and around Sharm el-Sheik yesterday, after officials said that their passports had been found in a Red Sea hotel room. Several newspapers published the same pictures that were provided by the Interior Ministry, as the probe into Saturday’s three pre-dawn bombings widened.

At least two security officials said that the Pakistanis had flown into Sharm from Cairo several days before the attacks, raising suspicions that they may have been the bombers. But there has been no direct link between the five and the bombings, and it is thought that they could have been victims of the blasts. Officials now say they are seeking them for illegally entering Egypt.

"No Pakistani national was involved in the terrorist attacks that rocked Sharm el-Sheik late last Saturday," the Egyptian ambassador in Islamabad, the Pakistan capital, said in a statement.

Egypt’s ambassador to Pakistan, Hussein Haridy, said that he informed the Pakistani government by telephone of the Egyptian conclusion last night.

Police began a manhunt yesterday in villages within the mountainous desert interior 20 miles (32km) from Sharm after receiving a tip that unknown men were seen fleeing there. But they played down reports that security forces had fought gun battles with Beduin tribesmen thought to be sheltering them.

A number of people, including women, were arrested overnight further north in the Husseinat and Muqataa villages of the Sinai Peninsula near the border with the Gaza Strip. At least 70 people have been arrested since the attacks for questioning, and some are believed to have been released.

Police said that about 490kg (1,300lb) of explosives were used in the attacks. More than half was used in the suicide car bomb that rammed into the Ghazala Gardens Hotel, where most of the missing Britons were staying. A third car bomb exploded two miles away in an area of Sharm called the Old Market, which is popular with Egyptians.

Investigators suspect that the attackers drove into Sharm along desert paths from the north in two Isuzu pick-up trucks packed with explosives.

The death toll from the attacks stood at 88, according to the head of the Sharm el-Sheik hospital that treated the victims, but Egypt’s Health Ministry has put the death toll at 64. Hospitals said the ministry count excludes some sets of body parts. DNA tests are being run on the bodies, said a security official.

A body believed to be that of a foreign bomber was found in the pickup truck at the Ghazala, while the remains of another suspected bomber were discovered at the Old Market.

Meanwhile, 20 of Egypt’s top movie and music stars visited Sharm today, touring the attack scenes and visiting some of the Egyptians injured who were still in hospital.

"I am here to tell my people that we shouldn’t let terrorism have its way," said film director Youssef Chahine, 79, during a tour of the gutted hotel. "The people are very sad but they are not afraid. It’s not the first time but it is the most vicious one."

Investigators are pursuing a possible connection to October’s bombings in two Sinai resorts further north, Taba and Ras Shitan, that killed 34 people, including many Israelis. DNA from the suspected bombers’ remains were being compared to samples from the parents of five suspects still at large from the Taba blasts.

The Sharm attacks had hallmarks of other al-Qaeda-style operations, including the two London attacks this month - near-simultaneous bombings using a mix of techniques, including vehicle-borne and other bombs.

A third Internet claim of responsibility was posted today in the name of a previously unknown militant group purporting links to al-Qaeda, calling itself Egyptian Tawhid and Jihad. The statement, which could not be independently authenticated, said that it attacked the "Crusaders" after following orders from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his Egyptian-born deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, "in support of our brothers in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Another group saying it was tied to al-Qaeda, Abdullah Azzam Brigades, and the previously unknown Holy Warriors of Egypt have also claimed responsibility for the Sharm blasts. Neither statements’ authenticity could be confirmed. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades was among several groups that claimed responsibility for October’s Taba and Ras Shitan attacks.

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