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"Egyptian security forces opened fire on a caravan of tourist vehicles in the country’s Western Desert late Sunday night, killing at least 12 people visiting from Mexico and injuring 10 others, among them Mexican tourists and their Egyptian tour guides, officials said.
The tourists were mistakenly killed by a “joint force from the police and armed forces” who were pursuing “terrorist elements” in an area of the desert, according to a brief statement posted to the official Facebook page of Egypt’s Ministry of Interior. The episode happened around midnight, security officials said.
“The incident resulted in the deaths of 12 people and the injury of 10 people from among the Mexicans and the Egyptians,” the statement said. “They have been taken to hospitals for treatment.”
The security forces said that they had believed that the vehicles were being used to transport terrorists. The statement said the group had been driving in a restricted area where unauthorized access is banned." NY Times
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"EgyptAir Flight 648 was a Boeing 737-200[2] airliner, registered SU-AYH, hijacked on November 23, 1985 by the terrorist organization Abu Nidal. The subsequent raid on the aircraft by Egyptian troops resulted in dozens of deaths, making the hijacking of Flight 648 one of the deadliest such incidents in history."wiki
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Deadly folks, the Egyptians. If the Egyptian army is coming to your rescue kiss your a-s goodbye.
I happened to be involved in the EA 648 caper. On that November day, I happened to be visiting the intelligence watch center of DIA, just to see what they were up to. Seems to me it was a weekend. No? Well, OK. The lieutenant general director of DIA came rushing in and cried out, "does anyone here speak Arabic or Persian or whatever it is they speak in Egypt?" After a moment of stunned silence in the room, I said, "well, boss, that would be me. I'm your head Middle East guy." To be fair I was in civilian clothes. He was new and the Middle East was probably not the part of the world that he favored. We sprinted up to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's office. This was in the Pentagon and the CJCS was Admiral William Crowe. The phone on his desk was on "speaker" and people were speaking Arabic on the other end of the circuit. State had patched a call through from the US Ambassador in Malta. After a few seconds, I said, "Egyptians." The ambassador did not speak Arabic. Crowe said "there's a hijacked plane from Egypt on Malta. The Egyptians have brought in some commandos. Talk to this general. Talk to this Egyptian, find out what they are doing and interpret for me. They don't speak much English." The Gyppo and I chatted for a bit and I translated for Crowe. Another Egyptian joined the conversation. The three of us talked for a few minutes. The second Egyptian was the commando unit commander. They discussed the weather,and how long this mess was lasting and then they decided. I looked at Crowe and said, "the general has just ordered an attack on the airplane." Everyone in the room laughed and said I must have got it wrong. The director of DIA looked embarrassed at my linguistic incompetence. Just then, there commenced a roaring sound of small arms followed by explosions (probably grenades). Basically the Egyptians shot the airplane full of holes and then walked aboard through the large gaps in the fuselage that they had made. Crowe asked me if the two Egyptian officers had seemed excited. "Not a bit, I said." "Not a bit."
Sooo, pilgrims, don't be rescued by the Egyptian Army. pl