Mexico City - Eight Mexicans were killed in an apparently mistaken aerial bombing of a tourist convoy by Egypt's army on Sunday, a Mexican official said, matching the fatality estimates given by security sources in Egypt. Mexico's government had, prior to the official's comments Tuesday, confirmed the death of only two Mexicans in the incident.

According to the tour's organizers, the group had been traveling on Sunday in a convoy of four 4x4s and had parked their vehicles off-road for a picnic near the Bahariya Oasis, a popular tourist spot in the western desert, when army aircraft suddenly began shelling them from above.

Egypt says it mistook the tourists for Islamist militants, whom its forces were pursuing, and the Apache helicopter targeted the tourists "by mistake." Egypt's ambassador to Mexico City, Yasser Shaban, said the tourists' 4x4 vehicles resembled those used by the militants the security forces were chasing.

Egypt has been battling Islamist militants for years, with attacks escalating since the 2013 ousting of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

Until recently most of the fighting has taken place in the Sinai Peninsula with occasional attacks taking place in Cairo and other cities.

The attack killed a total of 12 tourists and wounded 10. Among the wounded are six Mexican citizens.

Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu traveled to Cairo on Tuesday to bring the survivors and remains of the victims back to Mexico.

"We face a terrible loss of human lives and an unjustified attack that obligates us to make the protection of our citizens the priority," she said before departing Mexico with relatives of those killed and doctors.

Ruiz Massieu said she would talk to top Egyptian officials to "clear up the circumstances of this deplorable event, which has cost the lives of innocent Mexican tourists." Egypt had pledged to create an investigative committee headed by the prime minister, she added.

The incident is likely to raise further fears for Egypt’s vital tourism industry, which has struggled to recover from years of turmoil. About 10 million tourists visited Egypt in 2014, down sharply from almost 15 million in 2010.