Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri spoke by telephone Monday morning with his Mexican counterpart Claudia Ruiz Massieu, explaining to her the circumstances that surrounded the deaths of Mexican tourists after Egyptian troops mistakenly opened fire on a desert safari convoy. Egyptian forces shoot Mexican tourist convoy, killing 12. Shukri said the tourists were in a restricted area, and the army and police were chasing militants who were in SUVs similar to those used by the tourists, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zaid said. Shukri assured Massieu that the Interior Ministry is investigating the incident and that the Egyptian government will extend all possible assistance, including medical treatment for the injured and transporting the bodies of the dead back to their home country. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto condemned the incident in a statement on his Twitter feed Monday, Nieto says his government "condemns these acts against our citizens" and demands a thorough investigation. The attack killed at least 12 people and injured 10. The victims are Mexican and Egyptian. Egyptian authorities said the four-car convoy had entered a restricted area of the desert without permission and without informing authorities. A joint military-police force was pursuing "terrorist elements" in the area and fired on four cars that turned out to be carrying tourists, according to Egypt's Interior Ministry. The ministry said the victims were Egyptian and Mexican. Egyptian officials claim the safari convoy had wandered into a restricted area of the western desert. The tour company involved "did not have permits and did not inform authorities," Rasha Azazi, a spokeswoman for the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, told The Associated Press, adding that any trips to that area are required to be cleared by officials. "They were not supposed to be there," she said, but could not provide further information on the circumstances of the shooting. Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu was in contact with Egypt's ambassador to Mexico and also demanded an investigation and explanation of what happened, the Mexican statement said. She also demanded the support of Egyptian authorities for Mexican nationals being transported to Cairo. Jorge Alvarez Fuentes, Mexico's ambassador to Egypt, and consular representatives visited the wounded at the Dar el-Fouad Hospital in suburban Cairo, and Fuentes had interviewed five survivors, the Foreign Ministry statement said. It did not provide details on the survivors' accounts of the incident. Egypt's western desert is popular among safari enthusiasts, but has not been known as a hotbed of militant or insurgent activity. Police and military there have primarily been concerned with combatting smuggling along Egypt's large and porous border with Libya.
