A police conscript was wounded by gunshot at the Egyptian border in Sinai, a security source said.
The 21-year-old conscript exchanged fire with the smugglers who were approaching the international border in Rafah, when he was shot in the leg.
Egyptian authorities had struggled to curb illegal migrant and merchandise smuggling across its borders with Gaza and Israel over the past years.
The restive Sinai Peninsula has also seen an increased influence of militants who claimed responsibility for recurrent lethal attacks against police and army forces, that left at least 700 personnel dead since the ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
