15 migrants found shot dead on Egypt-Israel border in mysterious circumstances

The bodies of 15 migrants were found in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula near the Israeli border on Sunday after they were shot dead, security sources and a medical official said.

"Fifteen bodies of Africans shot dead were found at dawn on Sunday south of [the town of] Rafah," said Tariq Khatir, a representative of the health ministry in North Sinai. 

"We also found eight people who were wounded but whose condition is stable."

Security sources confirmed that the migrants were shot but said the circumstances of their deaths had not yet been determined.

The Sinai Peninsula, where Egyptian authorities have launched a sweeping military campaign against a militant insurgency, is a major route for African migrants trying to reach Israel despite the dangers of travelling through what is effectively a closed military zone.

Steps taken by Egyptian authorities to quell the Sinai insurgency include embarking on mass house demolitions in Rafah, a small town that lies on the border with the Gaza Strip, in order to create a buffer zone between Egypt and the Palestinian enclave.

An investigation is also ongoing in Israel after military officials found that Israeli soldiers acted "unjustifiably" when they fired on a group of 15 Sudanese migrants at the border with Egypt in August.