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Egypt police shoot Sudanese man on Israeli border

Mon 17 Mar 2008, 14:03 GMT
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ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptian police opened fire on a group of Sudanese migrants trying to sneak across the border into Israel on Monday, wounding one of them, Egyptian security sources said.

Abdullah Shukar Abdullah, 23, was shot in the chest and moved to a hospital in the Sinai town of El-Arish, the sources said. Four Sudanese travelling with him succeeded in entering the Jewish state, they added.

Violence on the Egypt-Israel border has risen in recent months. Egyptian police have killed at least seven migrants since the start of the year and detained scores of others, mostly from Africa.

Police killed a Sudanese man earlier this month and wounded another as they tried to cross the border.

Rights group Amnesty International says Israel has put pressure on Egypt to reduce the flow of people crossing illegally, and has called for a probe into the killings.

Amnesty says thousands of migrants try to cross into Israel from Egypt's Sinai peninsula each year, with numbers rising since 2007.

The migrants, including many from Sudan and a growing number from Eritrea, are seeking work or asylum away from conflict at home and harsh living conditions in Egypt, where activists say African migrants face economic marginalisation and racism.

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