At least two Mexicans killed in attack on tourist convoy in Egypt

MEXICO CITY — At least two Mexicans were killed, Mexico's foreign ministry said in a statement late Sunday, when Egyptian police and military inadvertently opened fire on a group of tourists in the western desert of Egypt.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto condemned the attack on his Twitter account, describing it as a tragic incident, and demanded a full investigation.

Egypt's police and military said they killed 12 Egyptians and Mexicans, and wounded 10, when they accidentally shot at a Mexican tourist convoy while engaging militants in the western desert. 

"The incident resulted in the death of 12 Mexicans and Egyptians and the injury of 10 others who have been transferred to hospitals," Egypt's ministry of interior said in a statement.

It added that the convoy was made up of four four-wheel drive vehicles and that there would be an investigation into how and why the tourists entered an off-limits area.

Egypt is battling an insurgency that gained pace after the military ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in mid-2013 after mass protests against his rule.

The insurgency, mounted by Islamic State's Egyptian affiliate, has killed hundreds of soldiers and police and has started to attack Western targets.

Earlier on Sunday Islamic State released a statement carried by its supporters on Twitter saying it had repelled an attack by the Egyptian military in the western desert, a recent development for the insurgency that had been largely based in the Sinai Peninsula with occasional attacks taking place in Cairo and other cities.