Egypt's Suleiman survived assassination bid | World | Reuters

Egypt's Suleiman survived assassination bid

Thu Feb 24, 2011 10:33am GMT

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CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's foreign minister said Omar Suleiman, vice president under ousted President Hosni Mubarak, had survived an assassination attempt, state news agency MENA said, citing a television interview with the minister.

A senior Egyptian security source on February 5 denied reports in U.S. media that there had been an assassination attempt.

But Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on satellite channel Al Hayaat TV late Wednesday that previous reports about Suleiman were correct. He said that he witnessed the shooting attack on Suleiman's vehicle in an area near the presidential palace in Heliopolis in Cairo.

Aboul Gheit said the gunmen were inside a "stolen ambulance vehicle." One of Suleiman's bodyguards was killed, while another bodyguard and the driver were injured, MENA reported.

(Writing and reporting by Marwa Awad; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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