Last update - 00:00 22/12/2007
Five wounded as Egyptian guards fire on African refugees on Israel border
By The Associated Press
Egyptian border guards arrested 11 African refugees who were trying to cross illegally into Israel early Saturday, a security official said.
Five of the refugees were injured during the confrontation, the official said.
Guards opened fire on the refugees when they refused to surrender, injuring one of them in the knee before arresting them about 100 kilometers south of the Rafah crossing point in the central Sinai Peninsula, the official said.
Four others were injured after they tried to jump over barbed wire on borderline, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The wounded were transferred to el-Arish hospital for treatment.
The arrests came a day after an Egyptian border guard was killed during a confrontation with smugglers who helped a larger group of refugees to cross into Israel, said the security official.
That incident occurred 10 kilometers south of the Rafah Border Crossing with the Gaza Strip, said an unnamed Egyptian official.
Initial investigations indicate that the guard, identified as Mohammed Abdel-Ghaffar, 21, of the Nile Delta province of Menoufia, confronted smugglers attempting to cross the border and then was killed in the ensuing fire fight.
His body was taken to the Mubarak Military Hospital in nearby El-Arish, the official added.
Israel estimates that 2,800 people, mostly from Africa, have entered the country illegally through its border with Egypt in recent years searching for jobs.
The number shot up over the summer, apparently as word spread of job opportunities in Israel. As many as 50 people arrived each day in June, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
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