EGYPTIAN border guards shot dead two sub-Saharan migrants yesterday,a security official said,bringing to at least 14 the number killed this year as they tried to cross illegally into Israel,AFP reported yesterday.
The latest killings come just one week after guards shot dead four migrants and wounded two near the 250-kilometre (155-mile)frontier,drawing condemnation from international human rights groups.The official said the nationalities of the two men who died yesterday were not immediately clear because they carried no identification papers.They were among a group of six people who,the official said,ignored warn- ing shots when they were spotted near the border.The remaining four were wounded by the gunfire.Egypt on Monday defended its policy, saying that the migrants were given warnings to stop before they were shot.Guards killed at least 28 would-be migrants last year.“Dealing with these migrants is for Egyptian national security and the safety of its forces and Egypt 's international commitment to fight smuggling,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said.“Egyptian guards only fire in the direction of the migrants when they refuse to stop in this sensitive area of the borders.”The killings have generated harsh criticism from human rights groups.The migrants say they try to leave Egypt because of poverty and racism. Human Rights Watch,the New York- based monitoring group,called on Egypt to “bring an immediate end to the unlaw- ful killings of migrants and asylum seek- ers ”.
