Egyptian cops 'shoot' Sudanese
2008-06-10 10:43
Cairo - Egyptian police shot dead a Sudanese migrant on Tuesday as he tried to slip across the border into Israel, said police and medical sources.
The man, named as Mohamed Taher Mersal, 30, was part of a group, which refused to obey Egyptian police orders to stop. Police opened fire when the group ran off towards the Israeli side of the border, the sources said.
The police patrol detained three Sudanese from the same group, they added.
Egyptian police had killed at least 13 migrants this year as they tried to enter the Jewish state. Scores of others, mostly from Africa, had been detained.
London-based rights group Amnesty International said thousands of migrants tried to cross into Israel from Egypt's Sinai peninsula each year, with numbers rising since 2007.
The migrants, including many from Sudan, were seeking work or asylum away from conflict at home and harsh living conditions in Egypt, where activists said African migrants face economic marginalisation and racism.
- Reuters