Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab apologized Monday after police and military accidentally killed 12 people, including eight Mexican tourists and four Egyptian nationals, over the weekend, according to local media.
Advertisement
The Egyptians say it was a mistake as the military was pursuing a group of insurgents affiliated with the Islamic State through the same area, but a relative of one of the survivor said they were parked and eating at the time of the incident.
Twelve people were killed in the incident, including two Mexican citizens, and a total of 10 people were wounded.
“Mexico condemns these acts against our citizens and has demanded that the Egyptian government conduct an exhaustive investigation of what happened”, he said.
Mexican ambassador Jorge Alvarez met with five Mexicans who were in stable condition in hospital, Mexico’s foreign ministry said.
A senior Egyptian Ministry of Tourism official told reporters the incident took place as the tourists were traveling between Cairo and the Bahariya Oasis, about 350km southwest of the capital.
“That means that the bodies have already deteriorated”, he said, “although the incident happened only 500 meters away from the road”.
Mexico’s Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu (right), and General Director of Protection to Mexicans overseas, ambassador Reyna Torres, read a statement in Mexico City, September 14, 2015. The convoy was taking part in an unapproved safari, he said. “It was his second trip to Egypt. He liked it a lot”, she said, adding that she had not spoken to her mother and had only received information from the Jalisco state government.
However, a statement from Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism said that the group were near the Farafra oasis, another 50 miles south. The ministry said a full investigation is pending. That’s unlikely, of course, since the Egyptian junta maintains they did nothing wrong, and that if the tourists didn’t want to get “dealt with” they shouldn’t have been barbecuing on top of a sand dune.
“They weren’t purported to be there”, she stated, however couldn’t present additional info on the circumstances of the capturing. Hashem said police and local residents, including himself, mounted a rescue operation, but the heavily armed militants drove them off. The police then asked the military to get involved, he said. The ministry said the victims were Mexican and Egyptian.
The Islamist insurgency gained momentum after the country’s military, led by Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi who now serves as Egypt’s president, overthrew his predecessor, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in mid-2013 after mass protests broke out against his rule.
Egyptian officials also say the tour group was in a restricted area and didn’t have permission from authorities.
Advertisement
In recent years, however, it has been the subject of security concerns because of the long, porous border with Libya.
