A group of tourists had police protection and permission from Egyptian authorities to stop near an oasis in Egypt’s Western Desert before they were attacked by an Apache military helicopter, a relative of one of the victims said.
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“Twelve people were killed and 10 others were injured in the attack”, the ministry said, noting that it had since established a fact-finding committee to investigate the incident.
The tourists were mistakenly killed by a “joint force from the police and armed forces” who were pursuing “terrorist elements” in an area of the desert, according to a brief statement posted on the Facebook page of Egypt’s Interior Ministry.
Egyptian tourism federation chairman Elhamy Elzayat told Reuters: “The area is a restricted area, and the company made a mistake by taking the tourists to that area without a permit”.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto condemned the attack, and demanded that the Egyptian authorities conduct a thorough investigation. “You can’t have a tourism agency, or even be a tourist guide, without a government license”, she said, adding that her brother Rafael had also been to Egypt before.
Mexico’s envoy in Cairo had visited wounded nationals in the city’s Dar al-Fouad Hospital where they were listed in stable condition, the foreign ministry in Mexico City said. US Embassy spokesman Brian Shott said officials are looking into whether an American citizen was involved in the incident.
It said the tourists were in an area that was “off-limits”, but did not provide an exact location.
As members of the tourist convoy tried to flee, additional forces on the ground fired on them, Egyptian security sources said. According to the Mexican ambassador, it is estimated that the Mexican tourists arrived in Cairo on September 11.
Mexico’s foreign minister was scheduled to give a press conference later Monday.
This vast desert oasis which is popular with tourists, is also home to several jihadist groups, the Egyptian branch of the Islamic State (ISIS), which has already committed numerous attacks against security forces throughout the country.
In 2013, after the military ousted the Islamist president Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt has been battling insurgencies at a gradual pace.
The country has one of the region’s most powerful and well-equipped militaries, which was further boosted by recent deliveries of F-16 warplanes by Washington and Rafale fighters from France.
Over the past few days, the Egyptian army has killed about 300 militants and arrested a similar number of suspects during a massive security operation in major towns of North Sinai as part of the country’s “war against terrorism”.
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The statement said the wounded had been taken to hospital and an investigation had been launched into the circumstances of the incident.
