Egypt police shoot a Sudanese at Israel border

May 19, 2008 (EL-ARISH, Egypt) — Egyptian police shot and wounded a Sudanese man to prevent him from crossing the border illegally to Israel from the Sinai peninsula on Monday, a security official said.

The official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters police opened fire on the 24-year-old after he refused to comply with orders to stop. He was shot in the head.

The official said another Sudanese man, a 29-year-old, was injured in a separate incident after he cut himself while trying to cross barbed wire on the border.

Egyptian police have killed 12 migrants this year who were trying to get into the Jewish state. Scores of others, mostly from Africa, have been detained.

London-based rights group Amnesty International says thousands of migrants try to cross into Israel from Egypt’s Sinai peninsula each year, with numbers rising since 2007.

The migrants, including many from Sudan, are seeking work or asylum away from conflict at home and harsh living conditions in Egypt, where activists say African migrants face economic marginalisation and racism.

(Reuters)