Egyptian security forces killed 12 people and injured 10 more
after firing upon a tourist group they had mistaken for militants, the
country's Interior Ministry said.
Members of
Egypt's military and police were chasing "terrorist elements"
Saturday in the country's vast Western Desert when they came upon the tourists.
Among the victims were Mexicans and Egyptians, the ministry said.
The attack
happened within a so-called restricted area.
The tourist
group was in cars not authorized for tours, and the group did not have permits
for the trip, MENA state news agency reported, citing Egypt's Ministry of
Tourism.
An investigation
is ongoing, but the head of the tour guides union disputed the state-run media
account, saying, "The tour company is licensed. They had the tourism
police notification. The police representative inspected all car licenses
before leaving the hotel in Cairo in the morning and heading towards the
oases."
One of the
tourists was diabetic and couldn't wait until the group reached its destination
to eat, the union's Hassan El-Nahla said, so the group took a 2-kilometer
(1.2-mile) detour off a paved road.
"There were
no warning signs and no instructions from the checkpoints on the road or the
tourism policeman accompanying them," El-Nahla's statement on Facebook
said. "I strongly condemn the lack of coordination between the ministry of
tourism, in not following up with the events, and the police."
Mexican condemnation
Two of those killed and at least six of
the injured were Mexicans, said Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu.
Six other
Mexicans who were listed as being among the tour group are still unaccounted
for, Ruiz Massieu said as she prepared to board a flight to Cairo.
The country's
ambassador to Egypt, Jorge Alvarez Fuentes, spoke to the hospitalized Mexicans,
"who individually told him they had suffered an aerial attack with bombs
launched from an airplane and helicopters. They were evacuated by civilian and
military vehicles and then transported by ambulance to the hospital."
Mexican
President Enrique Peña Nieto mourned the loss of his country's citizens in
posts to Twitter.
"Mexico
condemns these acts against our citizens and has demanded that the Egyptian
government conduct an exhaustive investigation of what happened," he said.
Nieto has called for the Mexican Embassy to increase staff to
help victims and their families.
Ruiz Massieu has
contacted Egypt's ambassador to Mexico, Yasser Shaban, and "demanded a
quick, exhaustive and thorough investigation and an objective explanation,
without delay, so that the facts are clarified and responsibilities
established," a statement said.
Shaban said the
Egyptian government was taking the incident seriously and working around the
clock to provide support and assistance to the victims and their families.
"Allow me
at the beginning to express on behalf of the Egyptian government and people our
deepest and heartfelt condolences to the Mexican government and the Mexican
people and especially to the grieving families who lost their loved ones in
this tragic event," he told reporters Monday.
"Our hearts
ache with sorrow," he said.
Tourism and militants
A relative of one of the Egyptian
victims also spoke out, calling for an immediate investigation.
"Our blood
is not cheaper than any foreigners," Amr Imam told CNN. "I think over
the next few days, Egyptian authorities should have a clear and honest
response."
The U.S. State
Department said it was investigating reports that an American citizen was
injured in the bombardment.
Egyptian state
media reported that an American woman was receiving treatment at a hospital
outside Cairo and had been visited by U.S. embassy staff.
Egypt's Western
Desert draws tourists with spectacular landscapes such as the Great Sand Sea,
which Egypt's tourism board advertises as "the world's third largest dune
field." All-terrain
vehicles carry sightseers up and over dunes and past rock formations whittled
by eons of wind-blown sand.
Tourists stop
over at oases to enjoy rich desert culture and cuisine.
But the area,
which is next to Libya, has also become attractive to insurgents since the fall
of Libyan leader Moammar
Gadhafi in 2011.
The border
became porous, allowing the unhindered transport of weapons, drugs and people
to and from Egypt, according to the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy, a think tank that specializes on U.S. diplomacy in the
Middle East.
After Egypt's
military deposed former Egyptian
President Mohamed Morsy of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, Islamist militants stepped up
attacks against military targets in the Western Desert.
A deadly attack
in July 2014 on an Egyptian guard post at the oasis town of Farafra prompted
the Egyptian military to launch a campaign against insurgents operating near
Libya. Farafra is also a tourist destination.
El-Nahla, the
union chief, questioned why the tour group's police escort would let the
tourists drive into a restricted area when the escort allegedly had information
on "heated events in this area in the preceding two days."
Now, "one
of Egypt's best tour guides," the sole provider for his three children,
has been killed as a result, El-Nahla said.
"Due to
negligence and lack of coordination between the tourism and the interior
ministries, Egypt and tourism will pay the price through the impact of this
incident on tourism in Egypt," El-Nahla wrote. "We demand that the
presidency open a thorough investigation to identify the individuals and
departments responsible for this negligence."
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