Egyptian forces chasing militants kill Mexican tourists in error

Cairo - A joint police and military operation on Sunday "chasing terrorist elements" in Wahat "mistakenly" targeted four pick-up trucks carrying Mexican tourists, the interior ministry said in a statement.

Egypt said its security forces killed 12 people, including Mexican tourists, after mistakenly targeting their four-vehicle convoy while pursuing militants in the country's Western Desert.
A joint police and military operation on Sunday "chasing terrorist elements" in Wahat "mistakenly" targeted four pick-up trucks carrying Mexican tourists, the interior ministry said in a statement.
Mexico condemned the incident and called for a thorough investigation.
Egypt did not give an exact breakdown of the casualties but said "the incident led to the death of 12 Mexicans and Egyptians and wounding of 10 others".
"The area they were in was off limits to foreign tourists," it added.
The Mexican foreign ministry said at least two Mexican tourists were killed.
"Mexico condemns these incidents against our citizens and has demanded an exhaustive investigation about what happened from the government of Egypt," President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Twitter.
The Mexican ambassador had visited five other nationals being treated at the Dar Al  Fouad Hospital in a western Cairo suburb, where they were listed in stable condition, according to the Mexican foreign ministry.
The ministry gave few details about what happened, saying an "undetermined" number of Mexican tourists were attacked "in circumstances that are still not clear."
Mexico's foreign minister is scheduled to give a press conference on Monday.
Egypt's interior ministry did not indicate whether the tourists were targeted with automatic weapons or aerial bombardment during the operation against militants.
The Daesh group in Egypt said in a statement that it had "resisted a military operation in the Western Desert" on Sunday.
The vast Western Desert, popular with tourists for its oases and rock formations, is also a militant hideout. Last month the Egyptian branch of the Daesh group beheaded a young Croatian there who was working for a French company and have also launched numerous attacks against security forces.
The beheading in July of Croatian engineer Tomislav Salopek, claimed by theDaesh group, appeared aimed at threatening tourists and foreign employees of Western firms - two cornerstones of an economy battered by years of political unrest since the 2011 uprising.
Egypt's economy is traditionally driven by tourism but arrivals have plummeted as the country tries to recover from years of political and economic chaos.
About 10 million tourists visited in 2014, down sharply from a 2010 figure of almost 15 million people who visited the country with its archaeological sites and Red Sea resorts.

• MENA