Jerusalem: At least 37 people, most of them Israelis, were killed and 114 injured in three explosions including the one at the Hilton Hotel in Egypt's Sinai peninsula late last night (Oct 7, 2004), police and rescue sources said.

Thirty people were reported killed at Hilton Hotel in the Egyptian resort town of Taba in the Sinai desert close to the border with Israel where many Israelis were vacationing at the close of a Jewish holiday.

Two other blasts also occurred about two hours later in nearby resort towns of Ras al-Sultan and Nueiba, witnesses were shown as saying on State television.

Seven Egyptian workers were killed in the attack at Ras al-Sultan, the channel said quoting Egyptian police.

Security sources said there was growing conviction that the blast at Hilton had been caused by a bomb-laden truck.

Police had made initial arrests of people suspected of involvement in the bombings, Channel 2 reported.

Defying an advisory of the Foreign Ministry, many Israelis thronged the tourist resorts in the area, which have been a major attraction among youngsters.

The advisory of the Ministry was issued following recommendation by the anti-terror cell attached to the Prime Minister's Office which had expressed fears of a terror attack on Israelis in Sinai, a Foreign Ministry official told.

In the wake of the explosions, the anti-terror unit in the Prime Minister's Office called on all Israelis to leave Sinai immediately, Army Radio reported.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Israel would help evacuate any of the 12,000-15,000 Israelis who wish to leave Sinai in the wake of the explosions.

An Israeli official at the border, Itzik Chai, told Channel 2, "The situation is chaotic with fears of more explosions being expected. The Egyptians did not immediately allow Israeli rescue workers to move inside due to some bureaucratic delay."

Israel flew doctors from all over the country to treat the injured and helicopters were ferrying them to the Soroka Medical Centre in Be'er Sheva. Many of the injured were taken to the Yoseftal hospital in Eilat.

"I heard a huge explosion. The wall near me collapsed and people began to run. There were many casualties...The explosion was outside. When we went out we saw the shops and the internal wall of the hotel had collapsed," a witness Yigal told Army Radio.

"Some people said it was a gas canister explosion and others said it was a terrorist attack. There are a lot of people lying on the ground. There is a lot of blood, a lot of screaming," he added.

Resorts dotted along the Sinai's desert coast have remained popular holiday spots for Israelis since the territory was handed back to Egypt as part of a 1979 peace deal.

The town of Taba, next to the Israeli resort of Eilat, was handed back to Egypt only in 1989 after years of wrangling.

The Jerusalem Post reported on September 11, over the past summer alone, around 300,000 Israelis took holidays in Sinai.