20100703
reuters

ISMAILIA Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt released seven Bedouin detainees on Saturday in an effort to improve tense relations between the Bedouin and the government, security sources said.

The Bedouin -- nomadic Arab tribes of the Sinai -- asked the government on Thursday to release some Bedouin detainees and investigate several policemen they say were involved in the killing of three tribesmen in 2007.

They made the request at a conference after a delegation of Bedouin elders met Interior Minister Habib el-Adly in Cairo.

Police detained thousands of young Bedouins in response to a series of bombings at tourist resorts in south Sinai in 2005 and 2006, and relations have since grown worse still.

The authorities accuse Bedouin of involvement in the smuggling of weapons and goods from Sinai to both Israel and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, and are building barriers along the Gaza border to stop the smuggling into the Palestinian enclave.

The Bedouin complain of neglect by the Egyptian government and say tough economic conditions have led some of their kin to resort to smuggling and other criminal activities.

"The files of all detainees are currently being examined and more detainees will be released after it is ascertained that they are not involved in any other cases," security sources said on Saturday.