CAIRO, March 25: US officials on Tuesday denied reports that an Egyptian was killed when a US Navy chartered ship opened fire on small boats near the Suez Canal, confirming the incident but insisting no one was hurt.

Egyptian accounts however said one man was shot dead and two other people injured on Monday when the US ship fired on barges which approached the vessel wanting to sell merchandise.

The Global Patriot “fired warning shots at a small boat approaching the ship as it was preparing to transit the Suez Canal on Monday evening,” a statement from the US embassy in Cairo said.

“Initial reports from the Global Patriot indicate that no casualties were sustained on either vessel.” US Ambassador to Cairo Francis Ricciardone expressed regret over the incident but said the facts needed clarification.

“We regret if there are victims but we have to know what really happened from both sides,” Ricciardone told a meeting of businessmen in Cairo.

US warships in the Middle East have previously been harassed or attacked by small boats.

Egypt’s official Mena news agency said that “an Egyptian citizen was killed and two others injured when a US military vessel opened fire at a small boat,” citing preliminary reports.

A medic at Suez hospital who asked not to be named said Mohammed Moqtar Afifi was killed by one bullet. The incident occurred as the Global Patriot was in the Gulf of Suez preparing to sail to the Mediterranean from the Red Sea.—AFP