A view of the Egyptian White desert, about 310 miles southwest of Cairo, Egypt. At least 12 people were killed and 10 injured in Egypt's southwestern desert Sunday, Sept 13, 2015, when security forces mistakenly fired on a group of Mexican tourists, Egyptian officials said.(Photo: Manoocher Deghati, AP)
Egyptian security forces mistakenly killed 12 people, including at least two Mexican tourists, in an anti-terror operation in the country's western desert, authorities said.
The military and police fired on four vehicles, which turned out to be carrying tourists, while pursuing militants in the restricted area Sunday, Egypt's Interior Ministry said. Authorities in the country say they have launched an investigation.
Ten Mexicans and Egyptians who were injured in the incident were taken to a hospital.
Rasha Azazi, a spokesperson for the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, told The Associated Press that the tour company involved "did not have permits and did not inform authorities," and said that any trips to the area must be cleared by the authorities.
"They were not supposed to be there," she told the news agency.
México condena estos hechos en contra de nuestros ciudadanos y ha exigido al gobierno de Egipto una exhaustiva investigación de lo ocurrido.
— Enrique Peña Nieto (@EPN)
September 14, 2015
Mexico's Foreign Ministry said at least two of the dead were Mexican.
In a post on Twitter, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said: "Mexico condemns these acts against our citizens and has demanded that the Egyptian government conduct an exhaustive investigation of what happened."
The Foreign Ministry said Jorge Alvarez Fuentes, the country's ambassador to Egypt, visited the wounded at the Dar el-Fouad Hospital in suburban Cairo and spoke to five survivors.
The western desert is a popular safari destination and is not known as a hotbed of militant activity. Police and the military there have mainly been concerned with tackling smuggling along Egypt's border with Libya, according to the AP.
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