2 U.S. Envoys Wounded in Cairo Attack

Gunmen in a speeding car opened fire on a U.S. Embassy auto carrying three officials to work from a Cairo suburb Tuesday, slightly injuring the embassy security chief and his deputy, officials said.

The attack involving three assailants was the first on U.S. Embassy officials in Egypt.

The U.S. State Department in Washington said embassy security chief Dennis L. Williams and his deputy, John Hucke, were slightly injured and were treated at a nearby embassy health office. They later returned to work. A third embassy official, administrative officer John Ford, was unhurt.

In a telephone call to a Western news agency, a group calling itself Egypt’s Revolution claimed responsibility for the attack.

The same group claimed responsibility for the killing of an Israeli Embassy attache in Cairo in August, 1985, and a March, 1986, attack on the Israeli pavilion at the Cairo Trade Fair, where two Israelis were killed.

Officials described Egypt’s Revolution as a “very small,” highly secretive group opposed to the Egyptian government and to peace with Israel.

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo said “the government of Egypt is extending its full assistance in the investigation of this incident and augmented security is in effect for the embassy.”

Embassy officials said that Washington “took the incident seriously because this is a direct attack on U.S. officials. This has not happened before.”