Egyptian injured in Paris was there for brother's cancer treatment

Monday 16-11-2015 06:02 PM
Egyptian injured in Paris was there for brother's cancer treatment
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CAIRO, Nov. 15 (Aswat Masriya) - An unsuspecting young man, the only Egyptian who was injured in the Paris attacks Friday night, was lining up outside the Stade de France for a ticket when a bomb cracked through the excitement of eager football fans. 

The attacks targeted several sites across the French capital including this stadium where French President Francois Hollande was watching France and Germany's national teams in a friendly game. 

Waleed Abdel Razek, 27, had traveled to France with his mother and brother two weeks ago where his brother Wael was being treated for cancer. 

Wael told Aswat Masriya in a telephone interview Sunday that the family has still not seen him because he is in critical condition. 

He is currently in the Beaujon Hospital with injuries including a cut in the arteries of his right leg, a broken shoulder and arm as well as shrapnel wounds across the body reaching his colon and kidneys, leading to severe hemorrhage, said Wael.

In the chaos, he lost his passport which was later found by French authorities. Initial reports alleged his involvement in the attack but the Egyptian foreign ministry first said it was trying to locate an Egyptian who went missing and later announced that it was Waleed. 

French authorities said Sunday that the Paris attackers were helped by three brothers from Belgium. While one, Salah Abdeslam, was still at large, another, Mohamed, was apprehended by Belgian authorities and the third, Ibrahim, was killed at some point in the Friday rampage.

The six deadly attacks that shook Paris have claimed the lives of at least 129. Islamic State Fighters in Iraq and Syria group, known as ISIS, claimed responsibility for the carefully coordinated attacks. 

The group said in a statement circulated on social media and shared on an unofficial website for the group that it targeted the "capital of immorality and vice" and the "bearer of the banner of the cross in Europe."

Following a meeting of the French Defence Council on Saturday, Hollande said the attacks were an "act of war" by ISIS, in a video statement posted on the French presidency's website. In response to the deadly attacks, France has declared a state of emergency. 

Hollande said earlier on Twitter in the early hours of Saturday that France will "once again, defeat the terrorists."

This is the second series of attacks to hit the French capital this year. Paris started off 2015 with a series of deadly attacks in January, that began when gunmen opened fire at Charlie Hebdo in revenge for its past publication of satirical images of Prophet Muhammad. 

Internationally, the attacks in Paris have been condemned by many including U.S. President Barack Obama  who said the attacks "were an outrageous attempt to terroise innocent civilians" and British Prime Minister David Cameron who told the French people, "We are with you. United," in a message on Twitter.

The Egyptian presidency said it "condemns in the strongest terms the heinous terrorist incidents" and asserted Egyptian solidarity.

While many Egyptians on social media were in fact sympathetic, others were using the attacks to draw comparisons between the global reaction to the Paris attacks and the reaction to the Russian plane which crashed in Egypt on Oct. 31.

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