Last update - 00:00 23/09/2007
Egypt says teen arrested for trying to join militants in Gaza
By The Associated Press
An Egyptian teen was arrested Sunday as he tried to sneak into Gaza to join suicide bombers and attack Israel, the Interior Ministry said.
The 16-year-old was arrested for the second time in six months at the Sinai Rafah crossing. The teen confessed he wanted to meet with Palestinian militants in Gaza in order to blow himself up in a suicide attack on Israelis, the ministry said.
After his prior arrest, the teenager was handed to his family rather than punished by the state due to his young age. It was not immediately clear how Egyptian authorities would deal with the teen's most recent arrest as he is under 18 and still considered a minor.
Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979, and the border has never been heavily fortified. In some places, it is not even clearly marked.
Israel sends only mobile patrols through those areas, leaving the border wide open for smugglers to bring in contraband, drugs, illegal workers, prostitutes, and, most recently, refugees from Sudan.
In July, Israeli figures showed about 2,800 people, including 1,160 Sudanese, crossed illegally from Egypt.