Last update - 00:00 08/01/2008
Egyptian police: Bedouin attack guards near crossing with Israel
By News Agencies
Dozens of Bedouin armed with rocket-propelled grenades ambushed Egyptian guards at a commercial crossing with Israel on Tuesday, injuring two people, police said.
One of the wounded was a police officer, and the other was a civilian who works at the checkpoint, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
More than 50 Bedouin - their faces masked with traditional Arab scarves - blocked commercial traffic for several hours Tuesday at the Aouja crossing, about 60 kilometers south of the main Egypt-Gaza crossing of Rafah.
Hundreds of Egyptian security forces and anti-riot police retook control of the checkpoint by mid-afternoon and were scouring the area for the attackers, who escaped before the soldiers' arrival.
The Bedouin also set fire to a police car and shot at the tires of trucks laden with goods, briefly preventing them from crossing to Israel, police said.
The attack escalated from a protest march opposing the arrest two days ago of two Bedouin from the Tarabin tribe. The men were apparently arrested during a tribal dispute over a woman's honor, police said.
The account was corroborated by at least two police officials at the scene, who spoke on the same condition of anonymity.
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