10 October 2001
Egypt supports "all US measures to eradicate terrorism", President Hosni Mubarak said Tuesday in his first reaction to the American-led strikes on Afghanistan.
"We support all US measures to eradicate terrorism, because we have suffered from it," he told reporters at the inauguration of a suspension bridge across the Suez canal near the town of Ismailiya.
"At the same time, we call upon the United States to take effective measures to resolve the Palestinian problem because we think such a solution is of key importance to drying up the sources of terrorism," he added.
On regional fears that the US war on terrorism launched Sunday with strikes on Afghanistan could turn against an Arab country at a later stage, Mubarak was less categoric than in past statements by Egyptian officials.
"I hope the United States, as President (George W.) Bush has said, will not use its forces to kill innocent civilians but to attack military installations and those aiding the terrorists to carry out their operations," he said.
Egypt, like Jordan and Saudi Arabia, has said it received US assurances after the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington that Arab countries were not targets for retaliation.
AFP
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