AL-ARISH: An Egyptian border guard was killed and another was wounded on Monday during an exchange of fire with smugglers trying to help migrants enter Israel illegally, security official said.
The 20-year-old conscript died after he was shot in the throat by armed smugglers when his unit spotted African migrants trying to sneak into Israel from the Rafah border crossing, the official said.
A border guard was killed in May near the porous 250-km (155 miles) Rafah border after he tried to catch migrants crossing into Israel.
Egyptian security forces have shot dead seven migrants along the border with Israel since the start of the year, including an African migrant killed at the end of July.
Last year Egyptian police killed at least 28 sub-Saharan migrants near the border with Israel, which has become a major transit route for asylum-seekers and drug smugglers as well.
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. -AFP
