Mexico Confirms 8 Nationals Killed in Botched Anti-Terror Attack in Egypt, Foreign Minister Arrives in Cairo
Mexico has confirmed that eight of its citizens were killed on Sunday, when Egyptian armed forces attacked a dozen tourists, taking them for terrorists.
As previously reported, the interior ministry of Egypt announced that during an anti-terror operation, security forces mistakenly killed 12 people, when the group entered into a restricted zone in the Wahat area of the Western Desert.
Aside from the dead, 10 others were injured. Six of the injured have been confirmed to be Mexican nationals.
Mexico's foreign minister, Claudia Ruíz Massieu, arrived in Egypt on Tuesday night, according to a government press release. She will accompany relatives of the victims as well as meet with Egyptian officials.
According to El Economista, Mexico's ambassador in Egypt, Jorge Alvarez Fuentes, informed the local press that two of the dead Mexicans had been identified as Luis Barajas Fernandez and Maria de Lourdes Fernández Rubio. The identity of a third Mexican citizen, Rafael Bejarano, was confirmed by his sister.
The BBC reports Reyna Torres, the head of the Mexican foreign ministry's department for the protection of nationals abroad, has said forensic tests are still being conducted in order to identify the rest of the bodies.
Foreign minister Ruíz Massieu, who has offered her condolences to the families of the dead on her Twitter account, has already travelled to Cairo with some of the relatives of the deceased.
Ruíz Massieu released an official statement that said that Mexico has requested that Egyptian authorities give the highest priority and urgency to this matter and provide all the necessary support to those affected by their deadly mistake. Although Egypt has apologized, they have insisted the group of tourists placed themselves in danger by going into a restricted area.
Gabriela Bejarano Rangel, sister to the deceased Rafael Bejarano, told VICE News her brother was a guide on the tour and his group indeed had permission to be where they were when they were attacked.
Hassan el-Nahla, the chairman of the General Union of Tourist Guides, said in a statement that the convoy of tourists had “no information that this region is banned, no warning signs, and no instructions from checkpoints on the road, or the Tourism and Antiquities policeman present with them.” He adds that Egypt will surely “pay the price of the impact of this incident on the tourism industry.”
Mokhtar Awad, a researcher at the Center for American Progress, spoke to the New York Times about what this kind of tactical mistake says about Egypt. “What we saw was not just the lack of training of the military forces, but also their desperation,” said Awad.
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