Egypt border police kill African migrant
- Ismailia, Egypt, June 28. Reuters
- Photo: Ehab Lotayef. Gate along with Egyptian border with Gaza.
The security sources said they had spotted three men attempting to slip across the border into Israel and ordered them to stop, opening fire when the migrants failed to do so.
The unidentified African man was killed by a bullet fired into the right side of his chest, and the two Eritreans with him were also shot, the sources said.
They said that the 15-year-old was shot through the back and was in a critical condition in an el-Arish hospital, while the third migrant, a 33-year-old, was shot in his right thigh and was in stable condition in hospital in Rafah.
Egypt has come under pressure over the past two years to halt rising numbers of Africans trying to cross the border into Israel. Its border with Israel is a main transit route for migrants and refugees seeking work or asylum in Israel.
Egyptian security forces shot dead at least 28 migrants at the border last year, and deported hundreds of Eritrean asylum seekers back to Asmara despite objections from the United Nations, which feared they would face torture at home.
A Rwandan migrant was arrested trying to enter Israel a few hours before the shootings, the security sources said. (Reporting by Yusri Mohamed; Writing by Aziz El-Kaissouni; Editing by Louise Ireland)
