Dr Saeed Abdel Fattah, manager of the Sharm el-Sheik International Hospital, confirmed the deaths of the two Britons in what was the most lethal terror attack ever on the Egyptian tourist industry.

Eight other British holidaymakers were known to have been injured in the blasts. A British Embassy spokeswoman said two of them – a 14-year-old girl and a 30-year-old man – had been airlifted to a military hospital in Cairo, where they were in critical condition.

The attack, claimed by an al-Qaeda affiliate group in Egypt, was well co-ordinated. A rapid series of car bombs and another blast ripped through a luxury hotel and a coffee shop in the popular resort at 1.15am, sending terrified European and Arab tourists fleeing into the night.

A third bomb, believed to be in a bag, detonated at around the same time at a minibus parking area near the Old Market.

Shaken tourists spoke of mass panic and hysteria as people fled the carnage in the early hours, with bodies strewn across the roads, people screaming and sirens wailing.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, condemned the perpetrators as "evil people" whil President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, who visited the scene, vowed to hunt down the "cowardly" culprits.

One blast, thought to be in a car driven by a suicide bomber, tore the front off the Ghazala Gardens Hotel in Naama Bay, the site of most of the resort's luxury hotels. People were feared trapped in the rubble of the lobby of the hotel - where the two dead Britons are thought to have been staying.

A group claiming links to al-Qaeda said it carried out the bombings in retaliation for "crimes committed against Muslims", according to an Internet statement.

At least 200 people were injured in the bombings, which also claimed the lives of tourists from Germany and Italy. Tourists from Russia, the Netherlands, Kuwait, Saudia Arabia and Qatar were also reported to have been killed.

Some 9,000 Britons were thought to have been in the resort area when the bombs hit. Holiday company Thomas Cook, which has about 1,500 holidaymakers in Sharm el-Sheikh, said all its clients and staff in the resort had been accounted for and were unhurt.

A Thomas Cook spokeswoman added: "We didn't have any clients in the two hotels concerned. We have spoken to our reps out there and everyone seems to be fine.

"We'll make a decision later about what can be arranged for those still out there and others who are planning to travel there. The next fly-out and fly-back day is Monday."

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