message from U.S. Embassy in Cairo

Regarding yesterday’s (luckily non-fatal) stabbing of U.S. academic Christopher Stone near the Embassy:

“Police investigating yesterday’s knife attack on the Embassy perimeter reported that the perpetrator has admitted to the attack and claimed his motivation was to seek revenge over U.S policies in the Middle East.  The perpetrator carried out the attack after establishing his victim to be a U.S. citizen.  The U.S. citizen victim is reportedly recovering and should be released from the hospital in the next day or so.  The investigation, while still ongoing, has established that the perpetrator acted alone, and the incident was not tied to any larger conspiracy.  The Embassy will continue to work closely with Egyptian police to ensure all investigative leads and questions are satisfactorily resolved.  The Embassy has requested police to elevate their presence in and around all Embassy access control points.  The Embassy is planning on being open for normal operations on Sunday, May 12.”

This sort of thing has been relatively rare during my years in Cairo, but the incident is alarming, especially since the Egyptian police don’t just let everyone into the U.S. Embassy area. The perpetrator must at least have passed the “eyeball” test to be allowed past the barrier.