An Egyptian policeman has been injured in a clash with a group of smugglers assisting African migrants to cross the country's Sinai peninsula border with Israel, police said Wednesday.
The group was spotted by a police patrol while attempting to cross the border overnight. Both sides opened fire, DPA reported.
Policeman Magdy Abdelghany, 23, was injured in the exchange of fire. He is currently being treated in el-Arish hospital.
The smugglers and the group of migrants they were assisting escaped and are believed to be hiding in the Sinai desert, police said.
Separately, police confirmed that a Russian man had been arrested while trying to cross the border into Israel on Tuesday. He said he had paid smugglers 1,000 dollars to help him reach Israel, where he hoped to find work.
The man is being held in el-Arish prison, and the Russian embassy in Cairo has been informed of the case.
Smugglers and migrants regularly try to enter Israel illegally, often to find work. In many cases, police open fire on them, though human rights groups have sharply criticized the growing number of fatalities.
The 250-kilometre-long border is guarded on the Egyptian side by a maximum of 750 policemen.