EGYPTIAN leaders are furious at suggestions a co-pilot intentionally crashed Flight 990 in a suicide plunge and are struggling to keep the affair from escalating into a diplomatic wrangle with Washington. The affair threatened to widen into a rift between Muslims and the West as Egyptians voiced anger at “culturally ignorant” US officials who hinted that a common prayer allegedly recited by the co-pilot was a sign he had a death wish. “Egypt is not happy with the way these accusations have emerged,” an Egyptian foreign affairs official said, one day after Foreign Minister Amr Mussa was seen in an intense discussion with US President Bill Clinton. He stressed that no official statements would be issued for the moment, suggesting that Cairo, like Washington, wants to prevent the tragedy from leading to a diplomatic and cultural war of words.