Egyptian soldiers killed four Sudanese refugees near the Egypt-Israel border overnight Wednesday in full view of IDF troops, a shaken-sounding IDF soldier said in an interview with Channel 10, Thursday evening.
Two Sudanese refugee women carry young children and blankets.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski
According to the soldier, female IDF troops operating night vision devices identified several refugees approaching the border in an attempt to infiltrate Israel and alerted other soldiers who arrived after a few minutes in an army jeep.
However, Egyptian troops who also discovered the refugees, fired upon them, immediately killing two and wounding a third. A fourth refugee ran towards the fence and an IDF soldier stretched out his hands, trying to help him cross.
At that point, the soldier recalled, two Egyptian soldiers arrived and started pulling at the refugee's legs.
"It was literally like we were playing 'tug of war' with this man," the soldier said. The soldier eventually loosened his grip on the man, fearing the Egyptians would shoot him.
"They were aiming loaded weapons straight at us, I was afraid they were going to shoot us," he said.
A Sudanese refugee by the Israel-Egypt border.
Photo: Channel 10 [file]
The Egyptians then carried the man several meters away from the border fence, and proceeded to beat him and another wounded refugee to death with stones and clubs.
"What happened there yesterday was a lynch. These are not men, they're animals. They killed him without even using firearms," the soldier said. "We just heard screams of pain and the sounds of beatings. Then the screams stopped."
The entire event was caught on IDF tapes, but the soldier said that his commanders, who were not at the site, would not dare watch them.
The entire incident took place on the Egyptian side of the border, IDF sources told Israel Radio later Thursday evening.
A Channel 10 commentator said the channel preferred not to show the tape, so as not to cause a diplomatic row with Egypt.
Egyptian authorities said that they would investigate the incident.
