Mexico's top diplomat in Egypt

Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Claudia Ruiz Massieu arrived in Egypt Wednesday, days after security forces killed at least eight Mexicans in the desert. Survivors say the group came under attack Sunday. Egypt's Interior Ministry described the attack, which also killed four Egyptians, as a botched operation against militants.

Accompanied by family members of victims, Ruiz Massieu visited survivors and will meet with Egyptian officials "to obtain firsthand information that would clarify the circumstances of this deplorable event," according to Mexico's Foreign Ministry.

On Tuesday, Mexico confirmed that Egyptian security forces had killed eight of its citizens after opening fire on the tourist convoy in the Western Desert. Mexico's Foreign Ministry reported that consular staff had gained access to the tourists' bodies, confirmed their identities and informed their families.

'Confusing and unclear'

Foreign Affairs Secretary Ruiz Massieu will meet with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi after visiting the wounded tourists at Dar Al Fouad hospital, Egyptian officials said. According to the government, guides took the tourists into a restricted zone - an accusation vehemently denied by a union representing the guides.

Hassan al-Nahla, head of Egypt's tour guides union, said the group had received all the required permits and set off from Cairo with a police escort to the Bahariya Oasis, roughly 350 kilometers (220 miles) away. About 80 kilometers from their hotel, they veered 2 kilometers into the desert for lunch at a regular tourist stop, he said.

In a letter addressed to Mexicans on Tuesday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry expressed his "deepest condolences." However, he stopped short of an apology, saying that officials had launched a probe but that "the chain of events is still confusing and unclear."

On Tuesday, el-Sissi also called Pena Nieto to express his "most sincere condolences" over the "tragic incident," the Mexican president's office announced in a statement. "President Pena Nieto expressed his deep dismay and sadness over the death of our citizens, as well as the pain and outrage that these unprecedented events have caused within Mexican society," the statement reported.

The incident has proven embarrassing for security forces that regularly claim to have killed dozens of militants in airstrikes - tolls difficult to independently verify, especially under tough new restrictions that Egypt has placed on its media.

mkg/jil (AFP, dpa, AP)