CAIRO, July 23 (Xinhuanet) -- The death toll to blasts in the Egyptian tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in Sinai Peninsula early Saturday rose to 49, with around 136 others injured, the governor of South Sinai province said.

    Egypt's state news agency MENA quoted Mustafa Afifi as saying that one car bomb exploded in front of the Ghazala Hotel in Naama Bay, the site of most of the resort's luxury hotels.

    Another car bomb exploded in the old market in Sharm el-Sheikh town, about 6 km from Naama Bay.

    The third explosion occurred in a car park at the entrance to Naama Bay and it could have been a bag of explosions, he added.

    Police said earlier that four suspected car bombs rocked the Sharm el-Sheikh bazaar and hotels at nearby Naama Bay.

    The blasts caused huge casualties, and foreign tourists may be among those killed, they added.

    Police sources said the first explosion took place shortly after 1 a.m. local time (2200 GMT Friday) and minutes later other explosions were heard from the direction of Naama Bay which has dozens of luxury hotels popular with divers and holidaymakers from Europe.

    Residents said the blasts were so powerful that the shock couldbe felt 1 km away.

    Windows closer to the blasts were blown out, fire and smoke could be seen billowing over Sharm el-Sheikh, they said.

    According to rescue teams on the scene, one of the bombs went off inside Ghazala hotel and another destroyed part of a shopping mall.

    Pan-Arab Al-Arabiya TV reported that 13 security guards and four security officials were on the list of the missing.

    The blasts occurred as the popular Sinai resort was at the peakof its summer tourist season.

    On Oct. 7, 2004, Islamic militants detonated bombs in Egypt's Sinai resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan, killing 34 people, mostly Israelis, and wounding more than 100. Enditem