Egyptian police continued their hunt for clues Tuesday in the wake of three bomb attacks that rocked a seaside resort promenade.

They used divers to pull wreckage and possible evidence from the nearby waters.

They also arrested 30 men in connection with the attacks in the Sinai resort town of Dahab.

Three of the suspects arrived at the town on Sunday and tried to leave the resort 15 minutes after the explosions, authorities said.

As the authorities were rounding up suspects, radical Muslim groups distanced themselves from the attacks

The leader of Egypt's banned Muslim brotherhood said the bombings were "aggression on human souls created by God.'' Hamas, a militant Palestinian Islamic organization, said they were a "criminal attack which is against all human values.''

The explosions killed at least 24 people, and were so powerful they blew the storefronts off the many shops, restaurants and bars, and sent body parts and debris flying into the nearby Gulf of Aqaba.

More than 80 people, including many foreigners, were injured when three near-simultaneous bombs detonated, authorities said.

Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif joined Dahab locals Tuesday on a protest march through the town centre.

"Terrorists do not know borders any more," he said, pledging Egypt would remain on the "front line" of the global war against terrorism.

Nazif also toured a local hospital where many of the injured are recovering.

Tracy Kennedy, a Canadian journalist on holiday in the area when the blasts happened, said Egyptians reliant on the tourist trade are angry.

"They're talking quietly amongst themselves but the mood is they want to send people a message that they're tired of the terrorism,'' she told The Canadian Press.

"They want this to stop and they want people to know that not all Muslims are against westerners ... sort of an impromptu rally started up with locals chanting: `No more terrorism' and 'We love you all, we love tourists'."

The attacks come at the height of Egypt's tourist season, and one day after a tape of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden surfaced, where he called on Muslims around the world to support the terrorist group in fighting what he calls a war on Islam.

The bombings also came a day before Sinai Liberation Day, a national holiday marking the return of the peninsula to Egypt from Israel because of the 1979 peace treaty.

Hotels were crowded with foreigners and Egyptians celebrating Coptic Christian Easter weekend, which coincided this year with Shem al-Nessim, the ancient holiday marking the first day of spring.

Officials are not yet sure if the bombs were detonated with timers or by suicide bombers.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism, called the blasts a "sinful terrorist action."

Terrorist attacks have killed almost 100 people at several tourist resorts in the Sinai Peninsula in the past two years - all timed to coincide with major holidays in Egypt.

Bombings in the resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan, near the Israeli border, killed 34 people in October 2004, a day before a holiday marking the start of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

Suicide attackers killed 64 people -- mainly tourists -- in an attack on the resort of Sharm el-Sheik last July. The attack coincided with the day Egyptians commemorate the 1952 revolution overthrowing the king.

The Egyptian government has said the militants who carried out the previous bombings were locals with no ties to international groups, but other security agencies have said they suspect al Qaeda is involved.

Security expert Alan Bell said the motive for the attack might be the result of the Egyptian government recognizing the Orthodox Christian holiday this week for the first time.

"This did not go down very well with some of the Muslim groups in Egypt," he told CTV on Tuesday.

Bell thinks it was coincidence the blasts came one day after bin Laden's message. He said it was probably the work of an Islamic fundamentalist group, not al Qaeda because they would have already claimed responsibility.

The Sinai is a well-known hotspot for Europeans, Israelis and Egyptians, Bell said.

"It's sort of their Florida, of that part of the world. It's full of hotels, lovely, long, windy beaches. It's very accessible and also it's very difficult to control, from a security perspective," he said.

With files from The Associated Press