Mexico City, Sep 14 (EFE).– Mexico’s government said Monday that it presented Egypt with a diplomatic note protesting the killings of Mexican tourists by the security forces in an airstrike during a counterterrorism operation in the desert near Cairo and demanded an “expedited, exhaustive and far-ranging investigation” of the incident.

The Egyptian government has confirmed the creation of a “committee of investigation” headed by acting Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb, Foreign Relations Secretary Claudia Ruiz Massieu said in a press conference.

The foreign relations secretary, who did not take questions from reporters, said Egyptian security forces attacked the vehicles carrying the tourists “by mistake” on Sunday.

The vehicles were attacked by air and using bombs, Ruiz Massieu said, citing the accounts of survivors.

The vehicles were targeted “in an aerial attack with bombs dropped from a plane and helicopters,” Ruiz Massieu said, adding that the deaths of just two Mexicans had been cofirmed.

“I have been in communication with Egypt’s ambassador in Mexico, Yasser Shaban, since yesterday, and I received him this morning at the Foreign Secretariat, where a diplomatic note, in which the government of Mexico expresses its deep consternation over this deplorable incident, was given to him,” Ruiz Massieu said.

The note “demands that they conduct an expedited, exhaustive and far-ranging investigation, and that an objective explanation be provided without delay establishing the facts and the responsibility of those involved,” the foreign relations secretary said.

The document also “calls on Egyptian authorities to give the highest priority and urgency to clearing up this matter and to provide the necessary facilities to the embassy of Mexico in Cairo and its personnel in carrying out their duties, and to provide all the support needed by those affected in terms of their care and future repatriation to Mexico,” Ruiz Massieu said.

Ruiz Massieu said she met with President Enrique Peña Nieto in the past few hours and was increasing Mexico’s diplomatic and consular presence in Egypt at his request.

“We hope that the government of Egypt will act with the political will and promptness that this regrettable matter deserves,” Ruiz Massieu said.

The attack occurred in Egypt’s Western Desert, where the tourists, who arrived in Cairo last Friday, had stopped to eat at an oasis. EFE