Egypt cooperates with FBI on Los Angeles Airport killing incident
Egypt-USA, Local, 7/8/2002

Investigators on Friday probed the background of the Egyptian gunman who was shot dead after killing two people at the ticket counter of Israeli national airline El Al at Los Angeles international airport Thursday, DPA reported.

Teams of police and FBI agents searched the apartment of the alleged gunman, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, a 41-year-old Egyptian who came to the United States in 1992.

Hadayet lived in the city of Irvine, some 50 kilometers south east of Los Angeles.

"It may be a random act of violence, FBI head investigator Richard Garcia, "We are not ruling out hate crimes, we are not ruling out terror. We are looking into whether the person was despondent.

Garcia said that investigators were checking the gunman's family and associates to ascertain whether he had any links to terror organizations.

The US team investigating into the recent shooting in the ticket counter of the Israeli national carrier El AL at Los Angles airport urged everyone who has information about the assailant Hesham Hedayet to report on them instantly to the investigators.

The US team planned to seek the French authorities for information on suspected link between Hesham and international terrorist groups, the US team reported later on Sunday.

FBI had earlier said it could not determine if the attack was terrorist-motivated or not.

Egypt's ambassador to the United States Nabil Fahmy Saturday said that contacts were underway between Egypt and the US through various diplomatic and security channels to follow up the developments of the Thursday's attack on the ticket counter of the Israeli airliner El Al at Los Angeles airport.

Moreover, Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said Saturday the investigations were underway to unravel the real motives behind the Los Angeles incident involving the Israeli EL AL ticket counter at the city's airport.

Answering reporters questions, Maher said the motives have not yet been known. "We have to wait for the outcome of investigations to be able to comment," he added.

Such incidents are common in the U.S. and in other world countries, Maher said, voicing surprise at blowing. This particular incident out of all proportion.

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