Israeli Envoy Slain in Cairo by 2 Gunmen : Wife, Secretary Hit; Shooting Seen as an Attack on Peace Effort

Two gunmen in a red Fiat sprayed an Israeli diplomat’s car with bullets as he drove to work today, killing the diplomat and wounding his wife and another woman, Israeli and Egyptian officials said.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry identified the slain man as Albert Atrakchi, 30, an administrative attache. His wife, Ilana, 24, and Mazal Menashe, 22, underwent surgery for bullet wounds. Egypt’s Interior Ministry said Menashe was the diplomat’s secretary.

One of the women was wounded in the leg and the other was hit in the arms and face, said Isaac Bar-Moshe, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Mrs. Atrakchi, also an embassy employee, was the more seriously injured.

Attack on Peace Seen

The Israeli Foreign Ministry expressed shock at the attack, and the Egyptian Embassy said it may have been aimed at sabotaging Mideast peace moves.

Egypt has played a key role in trying to arrange Arab-Israeli dialogue involving Jordan and the Palestinians. The attack also came as Prime Minister Shimon Peres of Israel said he hoped to set up a summit with Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak.

Two previously unknown groups claimed responsibility for the attack, both of which condemned a six-year-old peace agreement between Egypt and Israel based on the Camp David Accords.

The first, calling itself “Revolution of Egypt,” said in a written message to an international news agency that such attacks would continue “until the Israeli occupier leaves. . . .”

Another group, calling itself “the Great Islamic Jihad Organization,” claimed responsibility for the murder in a call to a U.S. television network. It said it had issued four warnings that it would kill Israelis in Egypt.

Upper-Class Suburb

The attack took place in Maadi, an upper-class suburb about 10 miles south of Cairo, where many foreign diplomats and representatives of foreign companies live.

Investigators found 17 shell casings from a submachine gun that had been fired at the Israeli car, according to a Foreign Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“We very strongly condemn this criminal act,” an Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement. “Egyptian authorities will take all legal steps to track down the perpetrators and bring them to trial.”

In Jerusalem, Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ehud Gol, expressed outrage at the incident. “The Foreign Ministry is in close touch with the Egyptian authorities and we know that they are doing their best in connection with this deplorable assassination,” Gol said.

Israel Radio quoted Muhammad Bassiouni, the Egyptian charge d’affaires in Israel, saying the attack was aimed at the Egyptian-Israeli peace process. But, he said, “It will not affect the peace movement or Egyptian and Israeli relations.”