[Deutsche Presse-Agentur] - Egyptian soldiers shot and beat to death four Sudanese refugees who were trying to illegally cross the border into Israel, Israel's Channel 10 television reported Thursday. A soldier from an Israeli military unit near the border said the Egyptian border police fired many rounds of bullets at the refugees, killing two and injuring one. The fourth refugee tried to climb the border fence. The Israeli soldiers, in what they described as a "tug-of-war," said they tried to pull him over to their side, but the Egyptians overpowered them and captured him. The shocked and audibly shaken soldier said he and others from his unit heard screams of agony as they helplessly watched the Egyptian soldiers then beat the two refugees to death, calling the incident a "lynch." Human rights groups say more than 1,000 Sudanese refugees have entered Israel through the porous border with Egypt this year, including at least 250 from the war-torn Darfur region. In late July, reports said an Egyptian military unit shot and killed a female Sudanese refugee as she and others tried to cross the border into Israel.
2007-08-03 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive