Israeli troops shoot at men sneaking across border with Egypt, kill 1 drug smuggler

Israeli troops kill smuggler on Egyptian border

JERUSALEM — Israeli troops shot and killed a drug smuggler on the Egyptian border Wednesday, the army and Egyptian officials said. Egypt said he was among a group of seven armed men trying to bring drugs into Israel.

Israeli troops spotted the group crossing Sinai’s porous border before dawn and fired on one of them after seeing he had an unspecified weapon, Israeli officials said.

The men then dropped a package, which the army later said contained drugs, and fled back to Egypt.

The officials said the shot man also made it back to Egypt, where he later died of his wounds. It was not clear how they knew the man had died.

Later Wednesday, Egyptian security officials said they found an Egyptian smuggler’s body in the area of the shooting, with two bullet wounds to the back.

They said two other smugglers who were with the dead man were arrested while four remain at large. According to the Egyptian investigation, the men had crossed into Israel, got into a shootout with Israeli troops and were fleeing back when one of them — 17-year-old Mohammed al-Rawashda — was shot dead.

The men were all from a Bedouin tribe that lives in the desert near the border and is known to be involved in smuggling, the Egyptian officials said.

All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Associated Press Writer Ashraf Sweilam contributed reporting from Sinai, Egypt.