Bedouin release 25 policemen
2008-11-11 19:24
Cairo - Bedouin tribesmen released a truckload of 25 Egyptian policemen they kidnapped in the northern Sinai on Tuesday in protest at the killing of one of their number, a security official said.
"The Bedouin freed them in a mountainous area near the Israeli border," the official said.
The release came several hours after the police were seized by three pick-ups of armed Bedouin in protest at the killing of an alleged drug smuggler in a police shoot-out.
The killing has sparked other protests in the Sinai peninsula, including the besieging of a police station in the small town of Madfouna on the Israeli border.
The Bedouin have been protesting in Madfouna since police killed a tribesman in a shoot-out on Monday. Hundreds turned out to protest the shooting, firing guns into the air and burning tyres.
Bedouin say police routinely carry out arrests in north Sinai and that they feel under threat of having their car licences confiscated or homes searched at any time.
In July, the detention of one of their number in the Sinai without charge saw hundreds of Bedouin burn tyres and block roads in protest.
A spate of bombings that hit popular tourist destinations in Sinai between 2004 and 2006 led to massive sweeps of the peninsula with thousands of Bedouin arrested.
The Egyptian government has regularly promised to pump money into the impoverished north Sinai and there have been several attempts in recent months at a rapprochement between authorities and the Bedouin.