Policeman shot near border with Israel

An Egyptian policeman was wounded in the Sinai Peninsula on Monday when he was shot by smugglers near the border with Israel, a security official told AFP. Alaa Eddine Khalifa Ali, 23, was wounded after sustaining three shots to his leg near the Israeli border, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. The policeman, who is part of a force guarding the central sector of the border, told investigators that he was surprised by a shot coming from the Egyptian side. He said he had received information about human traffickers operating in the sector, who were allegedly smuggling Russian women across the border to work in the Israeli sex trade. According to human rights group Amnesty International, between 5,000 and 10,000 women work involuntarily in Israeli brothels, many of them smuggled across the Egyptian border. Israel has repeatedly accused Egypt of failing to control the smuggling of people and contraband, including arms.