Cairo, November 16 (RHC)-- Police in Egypt have discovered the bodies of 15 African asylum seekers in the area of northern Sinai Peninsula near Israel, sources say.

The African refugees were apparently shot dead in an attack, security sources said on Sunday, adding that eight others have been injured. Ambulances were sent to the site of the assault south of the town of Rafah on the border between Egypt and the besieged Gaza Strip.

No further details have been made so far about the perpetrators of the attack or the nationality of the African asylum seekers. African refugees have long been mistreated in Israel, which has pressed them to go back home or face indefinite imprisonment.

The Israeli regime’s strict policy towards asylum seekers includes building a fence along the Egyptian border, denying illegal migrants work permits and holding them in a detention center in the desert.