# Egyptian military fires on tourists, kills at least 12 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 14, 2015, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-military-fires-on-tourists-kills-at-least-12/731177 "2015-09-14T04:13:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-military-fires-on-tourists-kills-at-least-12/731177/1 "2015-09-14T04:13:44Z")
[ > [@](#): > > Egyptian police and armed forces were pursuing terrorist elements in the area and fired on four cars that turned out to be carrying tourists, according to Egypt’s Interior Ministry. The ministry said the victims were Mexican and Egyptian. > > The tour company involved “did not have permits and did not inform authorities,” said Rasha Azazi, a spokesperson for the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, adding that any trips to the Farafra area are required to be cleared by officials. > > “They were not supposed to be there,” she said, but could not provide further information on the circumstances of the shooting. ]([http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EGYPT\_MEXICAN\_TOURISTS\_KILLED?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-13-23-12-45](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EGYPT_MEXICAN_TOURISTS_KILLED?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-13-23-12-45)) Wow. :eek: An international incident caused by trying to stop international incidents. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-military-fires-on-tourists-kills-at-least-12/731177/2 "2015-09-14T05:37:50Z")
12? Must have only hit one car. Yeah, I know. I shouldn’t have. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-military-fires-on-tourists-kills-at-least-12/731177/3 "2015-09-14T11:13:50Z")
Pyramid envy? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-military-fires-on-tourists-kills-at-least-12/731177/4 "2015-09-14T14:13:44Z")
I’ve never understood the desire to be a tourist in a war zone or quasi-war zone. I’ve been in quasi-war zones. Being a participant in the various quasi’s wasn’t much fun, but I was darn glad to have serious weapons and a large team along with me as I did it. Wandering around the same bushland armed with a Nikon and a smile is idiotic. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-military-fires-on-tourists-kills-at-least-12/731177/5 "2015-09-14T14:22:52Z")
You have to be crazy to visit Egypt. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-military-fires-on-tourists-kills-at-least-12/731177/6 "2015-09-14T14:24:45Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Wandering around the same bushland armed with a Nikon and a smile is idiotic. For war zone use, nothing beats a Canon. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-military-fires-on-tourists-kills-at-least-12/731177/7 "2015-09-14T16:30:44Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’ve never understood the desire to be a tourist in a war zone or quasi-war zone. I’ve been in quasi-war zones. Being a participant in the various quasi’s wasn’t much fun, but I was darn glad to have serious weapons and a large team along with me as I did it. > > Wandering around the same bushland armed with a Nikon and a smile is idiotic. FWIW, I tend to view these kind of people as Darwin Award candidates. I mean, I hear about Westerners getting kidnapped by ISIS, and I think: Dude, I understand wanting to help people out, but what in the holy fuck were you doing wandering around Syria or western Iraq or whever the hell you were when you were kidnapped? Were you really that stupid? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-military-fires-on-tourists-kills-at-least-12/731177/8 "2015-09-14T16:37:30Z")
I doubt that visiting Egypt is more likely to get you killed than driving your car to the movies. I suspect the reason you sneer at the tourists in the Middle East and North Africa and not the victims of auto accidents has very little to do with the levels of risk.