OIC summit kicks off as Ahmadinejad targeted in shoe attack

A summit of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) is underway in Cairo. Heads of state and leaders from 57 Islamic countries, excluding Syria, are in the Egyptian capital for the two-day meeting. Foreign ministers from Iran, Turkey and Egypt will hold a separate side meeting to discuss Syria. In what could be a protest against Tehran’s support for the current regime in Syria, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had a shoe thrown at him as he visited a mosque in Cairo. The man who threw the shoe is reported to have shouted the word “coward” before being tackled by security. Ahmadinejad is on the first visit of an Iranian head of state to Egypt since the 1979 revolution. The trip is meant to underline a thaw in relations between Tehran and Cairo. Ahmadinejad has said he would also like to visit the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory which neighbours Egypt to the east and is under the control of Islamist movement Hamas.