EL-ARISH: Egyptian police shot dead two Africans, one a seven-year-old girl, in Sinai on Saturday as they tried to cross the border illegally into Israel, a security official said.
Officers opened fire on a group that included the child, a Sudanese, and a man in his thirties whose nationality was not immediately known, killing both on the spot, the official told AFP.
The girl s mother who was not hit by bullets was arrested, added the official under cover of anonymity. He said police had fired on the group because they failed to stop when ordered to do so.
The latest deaths take to 16 the number of migrants killed by Egyptian police on the border with Israel this year, he added.
Over the past year Egypt has arrested dozens of illegal immigrants, mostly Africans, trying to cross into Israel from the Sinai in search of work.
The 250-km frontier between the two countries is notoriously porous and is often used by drugs smugglers and people traffickers.
In February, human rights group Amnesty International slammed Egypt s use of force at the border. -AFP
