20110103
africanews

An Egyptian policeman was gunned down by human traffickers on the Egyptian-Israeli borders. Rami Ahmed Abdel-Latif was shot in the head when he tried to prevent a group of human traffickers from smuggling a number of Africans into Israel at the southern Rafah land port, an Egyptian security said.

The policeman's body was later transferred to the Rafah central hospital as efforts to arrest the killers continued on Sunday, according to the source.

Security forces rarely fall victim to attacks from smugglers in this border region, contrarily, Egypt has been criticized by human rights organizations for frequently shooting and killing migrants in order to prevent them from crossing the border.

In 2010, many people (civilians) were killed in clashes between smugglers and police near the border area.

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.