The Egyptian western desert and the Bahariya Oasis, May 15 Photo: Reuters

CAIRO — Egyptian security forces killed 12 people and wounded 10 “by accident” when they mistook a convoy of mostly Mexican tourists for a group of militants they were hunting in the desert, the interior ministry said on Monday.

At least two Mexicans were killed, Mexico’s foreign ministry said, though Egyptian security and judicial sources later said that eight Mexicans and four Egyptians were killed, and eight Mexicans and two Egyptians were wounded.

The sister of a Mexican Reiki healer who was among the dead said a relative of the group’s tour guide had sent her a list of eight Mexicans killed in the incident.

The group of 22 had parked their four 4×4 vehicles off-road on Sunday for a barbecue near the Bahariya oasis, a tourist site in the western desert, when army aircraft suddenly began shelling them from above, security sources said.

As members of the tourist convoy tried to flee, additional security forces on the ground fired on them.

“Mexico condemns these deeds against our citizens and has demanded an exhaustive investigation of what has occurred,” President Enrique Pena Nieto said on his Twitter account.

Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu told reporters her government had sent a diplomatic note to Egypt, expressing indignation and demanding a full inquiry.

Six Mexicans who survived the incident told Mexico’s ambassador to Egypt they had been bombed by helicopters and an aircraft while they stopped for a break in the desert.

“They each said separately they had been bombarded from the air by a plane and helicopters,” said Massieu. She gave no details about the identities of the tourists, other than that they had arrived in Egypt on Sept. 11.

Reuters, however, spoke to Araceli Rangel Davalos, whose nephew Rafael Bejarano was killed and her sister Marisela was wounded in the attack. She said she knew the group’s guide, an Egyptology expert whom she identified as Nabil Altawami. She had not yet spoken to her sister.

“I have traveled with the guide around 9 times, and he never exposed us to any danger,” she said. “He protected us.”

Gabriela Bejarano, Rafael’s sister, cast doubt on the Egyptian government’s account of the incident.

“I don’t think they were mistaken (for militants),” she told local radio in Mexico. “As far as I understand … they were dining when they came under attack … They were in a permitted area. On this occasion they didn’t stay to camp, because that was what was not permitted.”

Egypt is battling an insurgency mounted by ISIS’s Egyptian affiliate, which has killed hundreds of soldiers and police and has started to attack Western targets.