A group of Syrian and Palestinian refugees, attempting to sail a ship to Sweden for asylum, were fired upon by the Egyptian navy on Tuesday.

The boat left from Egypt's Alexandria port with more than 200 people aboard.

The two dead were a 35 year old man and a 61 year old woman.

Sources say that the Egyptians were firing randomly at the boat at dawn.

Some 15 hours after the incident, there were still no details about this murder of Palestinian Arab civilians.

The development comes as Egyptian forces had earlier opened fire on Gaza fishermen.

On August 30, two Palestinian fishermen were wounded and five others arrested when Egyptian naval forces fired at them.

Tensions have been growing between Hamas and Egypt’s interim government since the Egyptian military ousted President Mohamed Morsi on July 3.

NTJ/BA