Egypt vows thorough probe into death of 8 Mexican tourists

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry vowed on Wednesday that his country will conduct a thorough and transparent probe into the accidental death of eight Mexican tourists by Egyptian security men.

"The investigation has already started," Shoukry told a joint press conference in Cairo with his visiting Mexican counterpart Claudia Ruiz Massieu, stressing that all relevant results will be declared after the probe is completely done.

An Egyptian security raid on Sunday late evening killed 12 people by mistake, including eight Mexican tourists and four Egyptians, and injured 10 others near Bahariya Oasis in Egypt's Western Desert.

"We should give a chance to the investigations before revealing the circumstances of the accident," Shoukry said in the news conference.

The Egyptian authorities said the tourists were mistakenly killed while the security forces were "chasing terrorist elements" who had similar four 4x4 vehicles, stressing the tourist group was present at "a restricted area." However, the concerned tour company insisted it had all required official permits for the tourists to be in the place.

For her part, the Mexican foreign minister told reporters that she met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ahead of the conference and expressed the necessity for conducting a thorough probe into "the tragic event."

Massieu noted that her talks with her Egyptian counterpart Shoukry "were only related to the accident," noting that all the pertaining demands requested by the Mexican government were approved by the Egyptian side.

She added that the Egyptian authorities offered their condolences and that Mexico is waiting for the final result of the investigations to respond accordingly, noting she found full cooperation and facilitation from the Egyptian officials.

Accompanied by some relatives of the victims as well as some Mexican officials, Massieu arrived in Cairo earlier on Wednesday "to demand a thorough, transparent investigation to determine who was responsible."

The injured people, including six Mexicans, have been sent to classy Dar al-Fouad Hospital in Cairo and have been visited Wednesday by Massieu and earlier by the Mexican ambassador to Cairo.

Being the gateway to lawless Libya, Egypt's Western Desert has been exploited by terrorists, who mainly target security forces nationwide and particularly in the restive Sinai Peninsula.

In July 2014, at least 21 Egyptian soldiers killed and several others were injured in a terrorist attack against security forces at Al-Farafra Oasis in the country's Western Desert.

Egypt has been battling a surge of anti-security attacks, especially at its North Sinai province, since the military overthrew Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 in response to mass protests against his rule.

Hundreds of police and military men have been killed in the attacks claimed by Egypt's most active militant group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which has changed its name to "Sinai State" and declared allegiance to the regional Islamic State (IS) militant group last year.

Over the past few days, the Egyptian army killed hundreds of militants and arrested a similar number of suspects during a massive security operation in major towns of North Sinai as part of the country's "war against terrorism." Enditem