_ Tuesday,
Egyptian zealots slay 60 tourists
■ Islamic militants are
suspected to be behind the
massacre of 70 people.
LUXOR, Egypt (AP) — Militants
dressed as police sprayed gunfire on
foreign tourists outside one of
Egypt’s most renowned temples
Monday, killing 70 people. It
appeared to be the worst attack in a
five-year Islamic insurgency that has
haunted Egypt’s vital tourist industry.
Hundreds of foreigners and
Egyptians dived to the ground or
scrambled for shelter behind ancient
pillars as the gunmen fired randomly
into the crowds along a broad plaza fac
ing the three-story Hatshepsut temple.
Police said they killed all six gunmen.
“They started shooting everyone
- Egyptians, foreigners, children,”
said a ticket taker at the temple, Said
Ahmed Gassem. “They were like
madmen. Anyone moving they shot.”
The massacre at the 3,400-year
old temple in southern Egypt - which
killed 60 tourists - is an enormous
blow to Egypt’s campaign to revive
the tourism crucial to its economy.
Some travel agencies immediately
canceled tours.
There was no immediate claim of
responsibility, but the government
blamed Islamic militants in southern
Egypt who have been waging a vio
lent campaign since 1992 to oust
Mubarak’s secular government and
impose strict Muslim rule.
Egypt’s Information Ministry said
70 people died in the shooting: 60
tourists, two police, two Egyptians and
the six attackers. The Middle East News
Agency said a Colombian woman died
later after surgery in Luxor.
As of late Monday, police had
identified 24 bodies, according to the
news agency: 14 Japanese, six Swiss,
three Egyptians and one German. The
British Embassy said five Britons
were killed. There were also reports
that French tourists were killed in the
mountain shoot-out.
Egypt’s Interior Ministry reported
24 injured: 12 Swiss, two Germans,
one French, one Japanese, and eight
Egyptians. Eight of the wounded
were in critical condition.
The attack began about 9:30 a.m.,
when six gunmen dressed in black
sweaters similar to the winter uni
forms of Egyptian police climbed
from a car and started shooting auto
matic rifles wildly.
Police killed one of the gunmen
outside the temple after an hourlong
gun battle. The other five assailants
hijacked a tour bus and then fled into
nearby mountains, where police shot
and killed them as well, the Interior
Ministry said.
As police brought the attackers’
bloodied corpses down from the
mountain, about 100 Egyptians who
depend on tourism for their liveli
hood gathered at the temple. Some
spat on the uncovered bodies; others
shouted, “No to terrorism!”
President Hosni Mubarak called
an emergency meeting of his Cabinet
after the attack and was expected to
visit Luxor today.
Dressed in traditional black
gowns, Egyptians lined up on,. le
Luxor’s small hospital Monday after
noon waiting for news of loved ones.
The militants had been armed with
six machine guns, two handguns and
ammunition - all police issue. Police
also recovered two bags of home
made explosives from the militants.
More than 1,150 people have
been killed in the insurgency, which
at first focused on tourists, trains to
southern Egypt’s main towns and
Nile River cruisers.
Until Monday, the worst attack on
tourists was the 1996 Islamic militant
killing of 18 Greeks in Cairo. Islamic
radicals released a statement saying
they mistook the victims for Israelis
because their buses had blue-and
white Greek flags that resembled
Israel’s Star of David banner.
Carey’s campaign ruled illegal
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Teamsters President Ron Carey
was disqualified from a rerun
union election Monday by a for
mer federal judge who found
that Carey participated in an
illegal scheme to divert union
funds into his campaign.
Carey said he will fight the
r u ljjfg b £• K&jyi e fh, Con Rqy
special adjudicator'in the feder
al cleanup of the union. But
challenger James P. Hoffa
emerged as the clear front-run
ner for the presidency of the
1.4-million-member union.
i
Conboy’s decision, which
implicated other labor figures
and a Clinton-Gore campaign
official, was a devastating blow
to Carey, who was known as a
champion of reform in a union
long plagued by corruption.
Conboy also suggested Monday
that the rerun, scheduled to end
in.March, c-o-uld-he-delayed.
Carey '“'tolerated and
engaged in extensive rules vio
lations” and authorized spend
ing $735,000 in union treasury
funds “to help his flagging cam
paign,” Conboy said.
The Daily Nebraskan is currently taking applications for senior staff positions
for the spring semester. Positions are open for managing editor, associate
news editors, assignment editor, copy desk chief, copy editors, sports editor,
A&E editor, opinion editor, night editors, design chief, designers, art director,
photo chief, senior artist, senior reporters and senior photographer.
Job descriptions and applications are availably the Daily Nebraskan, 34
Nebraska Union. They are due by Dec 1. Applicants also must sign up for
an interview by Dec 1.
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poildes regarcflng the same
Here’s your chance to be heard
The Daly Nebraskan b now Wring columnists for the spring semester.
Columnists da ant have to be JeamaHsm majors. Pick up an appHcaUoa and
lab description at the Daly Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union. Applications are
due Net 21 HnaUstsvNI bn caled in for interviews in early December,
fhe Jaflr Nebraskan does net discriminate hi Ns Mrim pracUcas aid
U.S. offers aid to Iraq
if inspections allowed
Iraqi official says it won’t happen
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) —
The United States suggested Monday
that U^v-approved humanitarian aid
for Iraq might be increased if
President Saddam Hussein permits
the return of U.S. weapons inspec
tors. An Iraqi official quickly brand
ed the proposal a “no-starter.”
Though still in the exploratory
phase, the initiative suggested a fresh
American effort to resolve the three
week impasse with Iraq without the
use of force.
At the same time, President
Clinton emphasized that diplomatic
efforts to return the inspectors to Iraq
“must be backed by our strong mili
tary capability.”
“It is essential that those inspec
tors go back to work,” he said. “The
safety of the children of the world
depends upon it ”
U.N. teams of inspectors had been
monitoring Iraqi compliance with
orders that it destroy its weapons of
mass destruction. The United Nations
pulled the inspectors out last week,
after Iraq refused to rescind an order
expelling Americans on the teams.
The U.S. proposal to increase aid
in exchange for a return of the inspec
tors was described by an official
accompanying Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright in Pakistan as “a
little carrot” for Saddam, providing an
incentive for him to end the standoff
and help his people at the same time.
Even as the Clinton administration
floated the idea, officials emphasized
they weren’t talking about bargaining.
Defense Secretary William
Cohen said of Saddam, “We are not
seeking any deal in order to insist that
he comply with his obligations.”
Iraq has been the target of a U.N.
economic embargo since 1990, but a
loophole was created three years ago
under which Iraq is permitted to sell $2
billion worth of oil every six months.
Under a carefully monitored pro
gram, the revenues are used to provide
food and medicine to the Iraqi people.
The U.S. official said the $2 billion
ceiling could be increased as part of
the proposed sweetener for Iraq. Also,
he said the definition of humanitarian
aid could be expanded to include
items beyond food and medicine.
In New York, Iraq’s U.N. ambas
sador, Nizar Hamdoon, called the
proposal a “no-starter.”
He said Iraq wants guarantees
that the sanctions “will be lifted soon
because we think that Iraq is eligible
for the lifting of the embargo.”
The proposal is one of a series of
initiatives aimed at seeking a way out
of the impasse. Iraq, for its part, has
softened its insistence that Americans
be excluded from inspection teams.
In Bahrain on Sunday, Albright
met with some U.N. inspectors, who
told her Iraq was trying to develop a
nerve gas called VX, a few ounces of
which are said to be capable of carry
ing out killings on a mass scale.
Robbers shoot jeweler
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten
(AP) — Armed robbers shot a New
York City jewelry dealer and then
made off with $1 million in cut
stones, police said Monday.
Allen Karmely was in stable
condition Monday at the St.
Maarten Medical Center after the
Saturday night attack, said police
spokesman Geronimo Juliet.
One man was arrested later
Saturday, but two other suspects
were still at large, Juliet said.
Karmely told police he was
leaving a store in Philipsburg, cap
ital of this Dutch Antillean territo
ry, when he was approached by
three men who grabbed his jewelry
case. One of them then shot
Karmely in the chest, Juliet said.
St. Maarten, the southern half of
the Caribbean island of St. Maarten,
is part of the Netherlands Antilles.
Gorilla gets new cornea
BEIJING (AP) — Veterinarians
say they have performed China’s first
cornea transplant on a gorilla, aim
ing to restore the sight of a giant pri
mate stricken by cataracts in a zoo.
Nikou, a 15-year-old gorilla at
the Zhengzhou Zoo in Henan !
province, received an artificial
cornea in surgery Friday, the offi
cial Xinhua news agency reported.
The 220-pound gorilla began
losing his sight several' months ago j
because of cataracts.
“We’ll wait to see how the right
eye recovers, and then decide when
to conduct the operation on the left
eye,” Dr. Zhu Pingzeng said.
Nikou, the only gorilla bom in ,
China, is the offspring of a pair of
gorillas that were a gift from King
Juan Carlos of Spain in the 1970s.
I
Irish talks take new turn
BELFAST, Northern Ireland
(AP) — Taking a new tack in
stalled talks on Northern Ireland
the American mediator overseeing
the negotiations began one-on-one
discussions Monday with each of
the parties.
Today’s talks were to focus on
how to create a new Northern Ireland
government in which both sides
share power. While the topic was not
new, the approach was: Unlike previ
ous sessions, former U.S. Sen.
George Mitchell was to meet with
party delegations individually.
Paul Murphy, the British govern
ment minister responsible for politi
cal development, said the past nine
weeks of discussions amongpro
British Protestant and Irish Catholic
parties had produced no agreement,
making it necessary to move into “a
completely different phase.”
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1997
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Editor: Paula Lavigne
Managing Editor: Julie Sobczyk
Associate News Editor: Rebecca Stone
Assistant News Editor: Jeff Randall
Assignment Editor: Chad Lorenz
Opinion Editor: Matthew Waite
Sports Editor: Mike Kluck
A&E Editor: Jim Goodwin
Copy Desk Chiefs: Nancy Zywiec
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