Acting with curious swiftness, Egyptian police have already arrested 10 people in connection with yesterday’s mass murder in the resort town of Dahab. And they assure the world that the attacks had no connection to Al Qaeda. Just some random Bedouins. You know, from the desert. With computer skills.

DAHAB, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptian police detained at least 10 people, including three computer engineers, on Tuesday in connection with a triple bombing in the Sinai resort of Dahab that killed at least 18 people and wounded scores.

Security sources provided few details about those detained, but one source said three of them were computer engineers who had arrived in Dahab from Cairo the day before the blasts, which went off nearly simultaneously on Monday evening.

Foreign holidaymakers described scenes of carnage in the aftermath of the explosions, which were detonated near a cafe, a restaurant and a supermarket in the tightly packed streets of the popular tourist town.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry confirmed 18 deaths, among them four foreigners — a Russian, a Swiss man, a German child and a Lebanese national. Earlier the ministry put the death toll at 23. Lebanese authorities said they knew of no nationals killed. …

Security experts downplayed possible links to external militant groups such as al Qaeda but say they may serve as inspiration for the local attackers, who are believed to be drawn from the disaffected bedouin population of the Sinai.