CAIRO, (AP)- Deadly, sophisticated and unexpected, the Sharm el-Sheik bombings present investigators with the same questions as those in London”s attacks: Is a worldwide network of al-Qaida-inspired operatives at work or is a new crop of homegrown militants plotting and carrying out terror on their own?

Egyptian security officials said the Sharm bombings, the deadliest terror attack in Egypt, were most likely the work of homegrown militants, possibly members of a group thought to be responsible for similar bombings nine months ago, also in Red Sea resorts.

However, there are indications those militants may have had international help or influence in Saturday”s attacks in Sharm and those of last October.

One sign is tactics: In both cases, car bombs, and possibly suicide bombers, were used, something that was rarely seen when Islamic militants fought President Hosni Mubarak”s regime in the 1990s.

Simultaneous blasts have been used in past attacks in which al-Qaida”s influence is seen, in London, in Madrid and in Iraq.

Police on Monday investigated a Pakistani link in the Sharm bombings, launching a manhunt for five Pakistani men on Monday. However, a senior government official said the Pakistanis had overstayed their visa and the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad said on Tuesday no Pakistanis were involved. Ambassador Hussein Haridy said he informed the Pakistani government late Monday of Egypt”s conclusion.

Pakistan”s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, said on Monday that al-Qaida was too weak to organize terrorist attacks from his country.

But U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has said the attacks in Egypt and London appear to be the work of al-Qaida.

Musharraf did acknowledge that small groups of al-Qaida militants might still be hiding in Pakistan”s North and South Waziristan tribal regions, where Pakistani security forces have carried out several operations. Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is believed to be in that area.

An al-Qaida-linked group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, has claimed responsibility for the Sharm blasts and the October bombings in Taba and another resort. The previously unknown Holy Warriors of Egypt also said it carried out the attacks.

During the 1990s, Egyptian authorities promoted the notion of a link between homegrown terror and foreign nations to ward off claims that economic woes and the lack of democracy were behind the rise of militancy.

But they have so far avoided suggesting an al-Qaida link to the Sharm and Taba attacks, partly so as not to appear vulnerable.

Egyptian authorities initially linked the October attacks to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, claim that one of the bombers had a Palestinian father. That connection proved tenuous, and the focus shifted to the possibility of a Sinai-based cell of Muslim militants operating with the support of some Bedouin tribesmen.

Two alleged members of the cell are on trial and at least five others are on the run. Investigators in Sharm are looking into whether any of the fugitives were behind the weekend bombings.

The emergence of militant cells in Sinai, a vast and sparsely populated area whose scenic Red Sea coastline is dotted with resorts, signals a change in the demographics of militant groups in Egypt, a predominantly Muslim nation of 72 million people whose history of Islamic extremism has been centered in the Nile valley.

Egypt crushed the 1990s insurgency, executing scores of militants and jailing thousands of others. However, the Sinai bombings and two April attacks at tourist sites in Cairo signal a new generation of militant cells may have emerged.

Determining whether such cells have international ties is difficult. More than a year after simultaneous bombings on commuter trains in Madrid, investigators there have been unable to trace the attacks directly to al-Qaida”s leaders.

In both the Sharm and Taba attacks, the multiple bombings went off almost simultaneously, used modern explosives and were carried out in areas thought to be heavily policed.

Both targets were heavily laden with symbolism: Taba, popular with Israeli tourists, is a symbol of the peace that has existed between former enemies Egypt and Israel for three decades but is hated by Islamic militants.

Sharm showcases Egypt”s modern face and its resolve to become a major world destination for tourists. It”s also a favorite of Mubarak, who spends his winter and much of the spring there.

&#34The message is identical: a slap in the government”s face,&#34 said Dia”a Rashwan, an Egyptian expert on Islamic extremism.

Many terror experts have grown skeptical that al-Qaida still exists as a functioning organization after the United States and its allies dismantled its leadership, killing or arresting many of bin Laden”s top aides and operatives since 2001.

Rather than issuing orders or furnishing foot soldiers and money for attacks, al-Qaida may serve more as an ideology inspiring supporters the world over. Still, experts don”t underestimate that influence. There are similarities in tactics and the choice of targets in attacks blamed on al-Qaida, points out Maha Azzam, an expert on terror from London”s Royal Institute of International Affairs. Occasional audio messages by bin Laden or his top aide Ayman al-Zawahri also play a part in rallying supporters, terror expert Magnus Ranstorp said.

&#34It”s a flag or a revolutionary banner that loyal troops rally behind,» Ranstorp, director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, said of al-Qaida. &#34It”s an amorphous organization,&#34 he said.

Pakistan, where many major arrests have taken place, has continued to be a center of gravity for the &#34classical&#34 al-Qaida, its leadership, Ranstorp said.

Many of those linked to terror attacks, including the Sept. 11, 2001 suicide hijackings, visited Pakistan before carrying out their deadly actions. Three of the alleged four bombers in the London attacks, for which &#34al-Qaida in Europe&#34 claimed responsibility, are of Pakistani descent.

At least one of them spent time at a Muslim religious school, or madrassa, there. However, Musharraf, the Pakistani leader, was adamant that his country played no role in the latest wave of terror attacks.

&#34Is it possible in this situation that an al-Qaida man sitting here, no matter who he is, may control things in London, Sharm el-Sheik, Istanbul or Africa? This is absolutely wrong,&#34 he said.