An Egyptian border guard was killed during a shootout with human traffickers trying to cross into Israel with illegal African migrants, a security official says.
The 22-year-old officer was stationed in the middle of the Sinai Peninsula — which borders Israel — when he was shot, officials say.
Israel’s population of African immigrants reached almost 54,000 in 2013, the majority of whom were Eritrean and Sudanese, the country’s immigration office says.
Last year, Israel constructed an electric fence along its 230-kilometer (143-mile) border with Egypt, attempting to put an end to illegal immigration.
In April 2013, Amnesty International said Eritrean refugees kidnapped in Sudan had been raped, beaten, chained and sometimes killed after being forcibly transported to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and held for ransom.
— AFP
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