RAFAH: Egyptian border police shot and wounded three African migrant women, including a 17-year-old, as they tried to enter Israel illegally on Tuesday, a security official said.
The Eritrean teenager was hit in the head and seriously wounded when border police shot at the women to stop them from sneaking into Israel from the Egyptian border town of Rafah, the official said.
Police opened fire after the women failed to heed warnings to stop, he told AFP, adding that the other two, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, were hit in the thighs.
They were heading to Israel looking for work, the official said.
The porous 250-km border between Egypt and Israel has become a major transit route for migrants, asylum-seekers and drug smugglers. Israel has asked Egypt to clamp down on the traffic.
Egypt s policy of shooting migrants has generated harsh criticism from human rights groups. The migrants say they try to leave Egypt because of poverty and racism.
At least 28 illegal migrants from Africa were shot dead by Egyptian police in 2008 as they tried to sneak into Israel. -AFP
