Egyptian security forces shot and wounded an Egyptian man after he jumped over border fence into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, witnesses and Palestinian medical sources said.

The witnesses said that the Egyptian border police spotted a man as soon as he jumped into the Palestinian side of the border and fired several gunshots, hitting him directly.

Mu'awia Hassanein, a Palestinian emergency official, said the young man was seriously injured. He identified the wounded as Salem Mubarak al-Sawarka, 28.

Al-Sawarka was taken to a Palestinian hospital in southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah.

In recent weeks, Egypt beefed up security measures along its borders with the Gaza Strip to stop smuggling of goods into the Israeli-blockaded coastal Strip.

Egyptian authorities said they always raided weapons caches and seized explosives in northern Sinai, set for being sent to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip via underground tunnels.

(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2009)