Smugglers shot an Egyptian officer on the border with Israel during a confrontation between a police patrol and people smugglers, an Egyptian security source has said.
Officer Ahmed Mohamed Adel, 22, was shot west of the Rafah border crossing while his patrol pursued a group of smugglers who were assisting African migrants to pass into Israel via the Egyptian border.
Adel was transferred to Rafah central hospital. The smugglers and the migrants escaped.
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.
According to Israeli sources, some 20,000 African migrants have entered the state via Sinai since 2007.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
