Egyptian police shot and killed a Sudanese woman and seriously injured four others Sunday on the Sinai Peninsula as they tried to sneak into Israel, a local police officer said.
Many refugees trying to enter Israel from Egypt have been detained, and some hurt, by police, but Haja Abbas Haroun's death was the first of its kindHaroun, 28, died instantly by police gunfire, while four others, including a woman and young girl, were critically injured and taken to a local hospital, said Capt. Mohammed Badr of the northern Sinai police force. The border guards detained 22 refugees with Haroun who were also seeking political asylum in Israel, Badr added, according to the AP. Eighteen from the group, including Haroun and three of the wounded, were from Sudan's war-torn Darfur region. The rest were from Eritrea and the Ivory Coast, the home country of the fourth person injured. The incident took place in the central Sinai town of Al-Aouja, some 62 miles south of Rafah.
According to Badr, the individuals had paid thousands of dollars to smugglers to get into Israel, but the traffickers left the group near the border and fled just minutes before police arrived. |