Egypt News

The security official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Angered by the shooting death of a Bedouin smuggler earlier, angry tribesmen attacked two Egyptian police border posts and seized 70 members of the security forces, disarming them.

The Egyptian Interior Ministry declined to comment whether the men were captured but say that some of its forces had been surrounded.

Tribal leaders had to intervene to free policemen in the early hours of the morning Wednesday.
A delegation of Interior Ministry officials and high-ranking officers will be holding talks with influential Bedouin figures in Sinai to defuse tensions.

The unrest has been concentrated on the section of the border 5 to 15 miles (8 to 24 kilometers) south of the Gaza.
The Clashes ignited after police killed a Bedouin on Monday. Tribesmen are demanding a trial of the policeman who killed the man.

The impoverished Bedouin of the northern Sinai have been restive for years, often demonstrating over neglect by the central government and the draconian security sweeps taking place in the wake of terrorist incidents.

In the course of Tuesday's clashes, the Bedouin looted desks, chairs, doors, window frames from the checkpoints and set others on fire. In the city of Rafah, Bedouins peppered a police building with bullets but no there were injuries.

The Bedouin have also been implicated in the drugs and people smuggling into Israel as well as weapons and explosives into the Gaza Strip
Last year, thousands of Bedouins burned tires and blocked roads across the peninsula to protest what they perceive as mistreatment by the government.

EGYPT NEWS

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