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November 17 in Middle East History

By , About.com Guide

1869: The Suez Canal is inaugurated in Egypt.

1922: Mehmed VI, Turkey’s last Ottoman sultan, is forced into exile in Italy.

1997: In an attack orchestrated by Ayman al-Zawahiri (who’d subsequently become the #2 man in al-Qaeda), six men dressed in black attacked tourists visiting Luxor temple in Upper Egypt. Sixty-two men, women and children were killed. The police then kill the assailants.

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