CAIRO, July 24 (Xinhuanet) -- Egypt police have detained dozens of people in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and elsewhere in the Sinai Peninsula for questioning over Saturday's blasts, the Egyptian Nile TV reported Sunday.

    The police launched a vast manhunt in the peninsula and struggled to identify dozens of the 88 people including foreign tourists killed in three coordinated bomb blasts that rocked the famed holiday resort early Saturday.

    The death toll is expected to rise since 23 of 200 injured are in critical conditions, according to local security sources.

    An al-Qaida linked group has claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement posted on an Islamic website Saturday. The group, calling itself the al-Qaida Organization in the Levant and Egypt, said in the statement that "holy warriors targeted the Ghazala Gardens hotel and the Old Market in Sharm el-Sheikh."

    The bombings were the deadliest since 58 tourists were killed by Islamic extremists in the historic site of Luxor in southern Egypt in 1997.

    Interior Minister Habib Ibrahim el-Adli has said that the attacks on Sharm el-Sheikh might be linked to the Taba blasts last October, which killed 34 people and wounded over 100, most of them were Israelis.

    World leaders have condemned the Sharm el-Sheikh attacks and vowed to support the Egyptian government in its fight against terrorism. Enditem