CAIRO: Some 521 Egyptians arrived at the Sallum border Friday; raising the number of Egyptians fleeing the war-torn Libya to 47, 985 since the murder of 20 Copts by the Islamic State (IS) group in February.
The arrivals included 201 Egyptians, who have illegally crossed into the Libyan territories in search of work opportunities, officials at the border crossing told Youm7 Saturday.
The beheading was followed by retaliatory airstrikes by the Egyptian army on the group’s hotbeds in Derna, east of Libya.
Security deterioration has prevailed in Libya after Islamist militants controlled wide swaths of the country. As a result, many Egyptian nationals have returned back home leaving behind their dreams of making a better living in the oil-rich country.
Thousands of Egyptians have not heeded the government warnings, and risked their lives to illegally travel to the war-torn country.
The Egyptian government said it had provided thousands of job opportunities for the returnees from Libya.
Hundreds of migrants, including foreigners are being stopped at the crossings on a near-daily basis. Despite tight security measures at Egyptian borders, officials said that thousands of migrants have managed to illegally cross into the Libyan territories.
Additional reporting by Hassan Mashaly.