Egyptian Cook Upset Over Wages, Seizes Italian Consulate
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CAIRO — An Egyptian cook seeking wages owed him by Italian employers forced his way into the Italian consulate in Cairo today and held the consul and three workers at gunpoint for two hours before surrendering.
A police official at the scene told Reuters that the man was deranged and that no one had been hurt.
Egyptian Information Minister Safwat Sharif said there was no political motive for the attack.
Armored cars and special black-uniformed commando units ringed the consulate in central Cairo but a security source said the gunman, identified by Egypt’s Middle East News Agency as Mohammed Mahmoud Gadallah, surrendered peacefully.
He was led out of the building by troops and taken away in an armored car as hundreds of onlookers chanted “Long live Egypt,” and “God is great” in praise of the security forces.
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