On Sunday the militant group circulated photos purportedly showing clashes with security forces and a beheaded “spy” in the western desert, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based group that monitors militant websites. There are six women and one man of the same group that are injured and in critical condition. The Ministry claims the vehicles weren’t following the path designated for tourists and had wandered into a restricted area of the western desert, reported Fox News.
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Last week the army launched an operation in the Sinai area against ISIL which it said killed 56 fighters.
The ministry gave few details about what happened, saying an “undetermined” number of Mexican tourists were attacked “in circumstances that are still not clear”.
At least two Mexicans have been confirmed dead, she said, adding that diplomats are trying to identify them. The trip to Egypt was organized by his mother as a spiritual retreat, the AP reported, and included about 15 of their friends. “He’s done this tour for many years”, Bejarano said.
Stewart says he “touched everyone with his heart, with his music, with his soul”.
A police source said that special forces were on Sunday carrying out an operation involving air support about 150 kilometres west of Bahariya.
Claudia Ruiz Massieu told a news conference in Mexico City that she had contacted Egypt’s ambassador to Mexico, Yasser Shaban, demanding “an objective explanation that clarifies the facts”.
“The Egyptian government is taking this incident very seriously”, he said, noting that Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab would head a high-level investigative committee. They are being treated at a hospital in suburban Cairo.
“We stand with the Mexican people in their tragedy”.
Amr Imam, a lawyer at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, told Mada Masr that the bodies of the Egyptian victims were still lying in the desert, citing family members who said neither forensics nor the prosecution was willing to investigate.
“My main message right now is the deepest condolences and sympathies to the Mexican people”.
The army often reports large death tolls among the insurgents, but they are impossible to verify and there has been little noticeable effect on the extremist group’s ability to carry out deadly attacks.
A joint force from the Egyptian police and military was chasing militants in the country’s vast western desert, which borders Libya, when it inadvertently opened fire on the convoy.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto condemned the attack, and demanded that the Egyptian authorities conduct a thorough investigation.
The attack killed at least 12 people and injured 10.
The minister dispatched to Egypt the director of her ministry’s office for the protection of Mexicans overseas, as well as personnel from other embassies in the region.
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Egypt’s Tourism Ministry, for its part, said the tourists had been in an off-limit area and had been using unlicensed vehicles for a safari expedition that had not been approved by the local authorities.
