Mexico foreign minister heads to Egypt over tourist deaths

Mexico’s foreign minister has traveled to Egypt to follow up on the case of the recent killing of Mexican tourists by Egyptian security forces.

Claudia Ruiz Massieu left for Egypt late on Monday to seek answers from Cairo over an airstrike that inadvertently killed the Mexican tourists.

‘Unjustified attack’

The incident occurred on Sunday as the tourists were traveling in four cars in the Wahat area of the North African country’s Western Desert, which is popular with foreign tourists, but is also a site of militant activities.

At least two Mexicans were confirmed dead and six others wounded, while six more were unaccounted for.

Massieu told reporters at Mexico City’s international airport that Mexico faces “a terrible loss of human lives and an unjustified attack that obligates us to make the protection of our citizens the priority.”

Massieu said that she would hold talks with top Egyptian officials in order to “obtain first-hand information that can clear up the circumstances of this deplorable event, which has cost the lives of innocent Mexican tourists.”

The Mexican foreign minister is accompanied by seven relatives of some of the victims as well as Mexican doctors to care for the wounded.

Also on Monday, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto condemned the killing and demanded an “exhaustive” investigation into the fatal incident.

A narrative disputed

Meanwhile, Egypt’s Interior Ministry has said that the vehicles were “mistakenly dealt with” in a security operation that involved both armed forces and military police.

Senior Egyptian authorities say the tourists had been in an off-limit area as they came under attack by the government forces. They also say that the convoy was using unlicensed cars. That narrative has reportedly been disputed by a local tour guide who has said the tourists were not in a restricted area at the time of the airstrike.

Mexican survivors told Mexico’s ambassador to Egypt that they had stopped for a meal when they “suffered an aerial attack with bombs launched by a plane and helicopters,” Massieu said.

Experts believe that the incident will cause serious harm to Egypt’s lucrative tourist industry.

Over the past months, Egypt has been witnessing deadly attacks carried out by Daesh (ISIL)-linked Takfiri militants in the Sinai Peninsula. Velayat Sinai terrorists have claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in the region.

Last November, the group pledged allegiance to Daesh, which is wreaking havoc in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

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