Today's Stupidest Headline

Blast Said Not Sign of Attacks in Egypt

(That would be the car bombs that killed at least 33 people Thursday.)

This ABCNews.com headline is over an AP story which begins:

The Sinai resort bombings were Egypt's first major terrorist attacks since the 1997 Luxor massacre by radical Islamists, but government officials and analysts said Saturday they probably don't signal a resumption of militant activity in Egypt, which has shown zero tolerance for Muslim extremists.

Egyptian terrorism experts believe Thursday's car bomb attacks on the Taba Hilton and two beachside camps farther south were isolated events carried out by foreign terrorists, most likely linked to al-Qaida.

Of all the headlines you might write to get this across, the one they chose doesn't seem like it did a very good job. And the first paragraph of AP's story doesn't mean what it says, either; they've written "miltant activity in Egypt" where they mean "militant activity by Egyptians in Egypt".
- posted by Don Porges @ 10/09/2004 08:59:00 PM |