US admits killing Egyptian with Suez Canal warning shots

[Red Sea Shadow]

CAIRO (AFP) — The US embassy in Cairo admitted on Wednesday that a US navy-chartered boat killed an Egyptian when it fired warning shots at a small boat plying its trade near the Suez Canal two days ago.
The US had initially denied that there were any casualties in the incident, insisting that all the warning shots were seen hitting the water.
"The Global Patriot ... fired warning shots at a small boat approaching the ship as it was preparing to transit the Suez Canal... It appears that an Egyptian in the boat was killed by one of the warning shots," said a statement.
"The boats were hailed and warned by a native Arabic speaker using a bullhorn to warn them to turn away. A warning flare was then fired. One small boat continued to approach the ship and received two sets of warning shots."
The embassy said the incident was under investigation and "we express our deepest condolences to the family of the deceased."
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Tuesday that the US was working with the Egyptian authorities to "make sure that we have good, clear, open communication so you do not have a repeat of these kinds of incidents."
Egyptian accounts said one man was shot dead and two other people wounded on Monday when the US ship fired on barges which approached the vessel wanting to sell merchandise.
US ambassador to Cairo Francis Ricciardone on Tuesday expressed regret over the incident but said the facts needed clarification.
"We regret if there are victims but we have to know what really happened from both sides," Ricciardone told a meeting of businessmen in Cairo.
US warships in the Middle East have previously been harassed or attacked by small boats.
Egypt's official MENA news agency said that "an Egyptian citizen was killed and two others injured when a US military vessel opened fire at a small boat."
A medic at Suez hospital who asked not to be named said Mohammed Moqtar Afifi was killed by one bullet. The incident occurred as the Global Patriot was in the Gulf of Suez preparing to sail to the Mediterranean from the Red Sea.
Afifi was buried in a Suez suburb on Tuesday.
The chief of US navy operations Admiral Gary Roughead said on Tuesday that the leader of the US navy security team had authority to respond and that the incident was under investigation.
He said the navy commonly places security detachments aboard merchant vessels chartered by the US Military Sealift Command to move military cargo around the world.
Despite being protected by the US military, the ship had no obvious military markings, an AFP correspondent said, and on Tuesday was continuing its trip across the Suez Canal.
The embassy and the navy had said that warning shots were fired "20-30 yards (metres) in front of the bow. All shots were accounted for as they entered the water."
In January, Iranian speedboats approached three US warships in the Strait of Hormuz and the order was given to open fire but they turned away at the last minute, according to US reports.
In 2000, waterborne Al-Qaeda militants carried out a suicide attack on the American warship USS Cole, killing 17 sailors.
According to the website of the US navy's Military Sealift Command, the MV Global Patriot is a roll-on roll-off transport ship chartered from Global Container Lines.
The Suez Canal, which opened in 1869, is Egypt's third-largest source of revenue after tourism and remittances from expatriate workers and currently about 7.5 percent of global trade passes through the waterway.
It is also a key route for the US military to carry weapons, supplies and troops to and from the Gulf, in particular Kuwait and Iraq.

Source: AFP: US admits killing Egyptian with Suez Canal warning shots

[String]

Not a surprise. America's general attitude is it can do what it likes wherever it lights and totally ignore everyone else. Standard procedure then is to lie about it until someone manages to prove otherwise.

Was it in international waters or territorial waters there?

Would be nice if other people started randomly firing on american ships as a bit of revenge too.

Imagine the fuss they'd kick up if the situation was reversed and an egyptian or iranian vessel shot at and killed someone on an america boat.....

[purple vonny]

US, Egypt dispute Suez Canal shooting - Yahoo! News UK

American reports are denying hitting anyone on the smaller vessel. But it is still unclear what happened.

The situation is not as simple as it seems. The ship in question, the Global Patriot, is, I believe a US Navy support ship (the equivalent of our RFA). All military vessels are required to "man the guns" while traveling through the Suez Canal. This is because they are under potential threat of attack.

The story reported from both sides says that a warning flare was fired and the smaller vessel was warned not to come any nearer. The smaller vessel carrying Egyptians was apparently carrying cigarettes etc to sell to the crew on the larger military support vessel and did not seem to heed the warnings.

These larger vessels pay tens of thousands of pounds to Egypt (? I think it is to Egypt) to travel through the Suez Canal. Military and merchant Navy vessels are vigilant and on the look out for suspicous vessels approaching them.

This is what I have been told by someone in the RFA who travels this route quite regularly and has had a few hairy moments.

[Stesh]

US ship fired on barges which approached the vessel wanting to sell merchandise.

I've found in the past, that a clear and polite "No! Thank you" works just as well.

[warmwaterdiver]

it sounds like the "bang bang, whos there?" method of defence

[stevechesh]

Originally Posted by String

Not a surprise. America's general attitude is it can do what it likes wherever it lights and totally ignore everyone else. Standard procedure then is to lie about it until someone manages to prove otherwise.

Was it in international waters or territorial waters there?

Would be nice if other people started randomly firing on american ships as a bit of revenge too.

Imagine the fuss they'd kick up if the situation was reversed and an egyptian or iranian vessel shot at and killed someone on an america boat.....

Makes no difference whatsoever whether it was in territorial or international waters. You don't approach a military warship or transport of any nation unless invited to do so, particularly when warning flares and shots are fired.

This is a classic example of why not: USS Cole bombing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by String

Would be nice if other people started randomly firing on american ships as a bit of revenge too......

You really have some "odd" views

[sean0801]

So the ickle boat ignored numorous warnings and was then shot at?

sounds fairy 'nuff to me considering it's an terrorist tactic to use small boats as suicide bombs to kill american sailors.

anyway, good job it wasn't the royal marines, they'da surrendered

[PeeBee]

There have been incidents in the past where suicide bombers came up alongside US ships and then detonated themselves, killing US personel in the process, do you blame them for having a keep away policy? It's easy to blame the Yanks but if they did fire off warning flares, and addressed the boats with local language broadcasts and they kept coming then sad that a warning shot wasn't as accurate as it might have been but I don't blame the yanks... for a change.

[Red Sea Shadow]

Copied from another forum:

In a situation like this, the vessel should be marked if deadly force is going to be used to protect it since it wasn't a military vessel. During canal passages, how hard would it be to place a large banner over the side warning to stay clear of the boat.

[sean0801]

Originally Posted by Red Sea Shadow

Copied from another forum:

In a situation like this, the vessel should be marked if deadly force is going to be used to protect it since it wasn't a military vessel. During canal passages, how hard would it be to place a large banner over the side warning to stay clear of the boat.

I dunno mate, and i aint trying to trivialise the death here, but maybe the yanks thought that placing a banner on their ship would be a bit like hanging a target on it and saying "please have a pop, we are americans and lightly armed"

It's a shame mate, but a sign of the times am afraid