An Egyptian policeman was gunned down by human traffickers on the Egyptian-Israeli borders on Saturday, a local security source said.
The policeman, Rami Ahmed Abdel-Latif, was shot in the head when he tried to prevent a group of human traffickers from smuggling a number of Africans into Israel at the southern Rafah land port, the Egyptian source told Xinhua news agency.
The policeman's body was transferred to the Rafah central hospital. Efforts were underway to arrest the killers, the official added.
Large numbers of migrants use Egypt as a transit point in their search for jobs and asylum in other countries. Egypt's border with Israel in the Sinai Peninsula has become a major trafficking route for African migrants seeking jobs in Israel.
