Three of the dead were foreigners, Habib el-Adly, the Interior Minister, said. Police said that one was Swiss and another Russian. A German boy was also killed.

Three Britons were among the 20 foreigners injured. The total included tourists from France, Italy, Germany, the United States, Israel and six other countries, the Interior Ministry said.

The explosions took place in quick succession at 7.15pm local time at the Nelson restaurant, the Aladdin caféteria and the Ghazala supermarket. The streets of the small beach and diving resort were crowded with tourists at the time.

The bombs wrecked several restaurants along the main tourist street. Windows and furniture were smashed and pools of blood lay on the floor. In the bazaar, one of the blasts destroyed at least eight shops.

Owen Norris, an Australian tourist dining in a restaurant two doors from the first blast, said that the bombs shook the resort. “There was a massive explosion. People were running from the buildings with blood pouring from their faces. It was chaos. All the shops and restaurant windows have been blown out,” he said.

Paul McBeath, a British tourist, said that there had been no warning: “There were just three loud bangs and people rushing around. Everybody is shaken.”

One Dahab resident said: “There were body parts and debris in the street.” Another witness, Ahmad Samir, said: “Foreigners were scared and panicking. They were asking us where to go and how to escape.”

Joseph Nazir, who runs a safari company in Dahab, said that one of the restaurants had been destroyed: “There is nothing there — the tables and chairs have gone, there is nothing left. We will be affected by this for a long, long time.”

Dahab is 60 miles north of Sharm el-Sheikh, where more than 67 people — including 11 Britons — were killed by a terrorist explosion last July.

A 12-mile security fence was erected around the resort after the attack, possibly making nearby centres such as Dahab more attractive targets.

The prime suspect for the attack is al-Qaeda, which has made bombing hotels and resorts a hallmark of its operations. Mohamed Hani, the governor of South Sinai, said suicide bombers were responsible, but security sources blamed planted explosive devices.

President Mubarak of Egypt called the attack a “wicked terrorist act” and emphasised the need to “track down those responsible”. President Bush also condemned the blasts. “This is a heinous act against innocent civilians,” he said.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, echoed his comments and said a team from the Cairo embassy was going to Dahab to assist British citizens.

The attack was the third set of triple bombings on the eastern coast of the Sinai peninsula in the past 18 months.

In October 2004, 34 people were killed after bombs exploded in Taba. It was followed by the Sharm el-Sheikh attack last July. Both incidents occurred on Egyptian holidays — October 6 and July 23 — and last night’s explosions coincided with a holiday festival.

There were also smaller attacks in April 2004 in Cairo, when one American and two French citizens were killed. In 1997, militants killed 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians in Luxor.

Islamic extremists have long hated Egypt’s secular regime because it is one of only two Arab countries to have signed a peace treaty with Israel.

• The Foreign and Commonwealth Office emergency number is 020 7008 0000.

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