Sentry guards killed at Deir el-Bersha archaeological site identified, Fundraiser established for their families.

The Belgian archaeological mission from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, which has been working at Deir el-Barsha in Middle Egypt since 2002 has released a statement regarding the death reported yesterday on ARCA's blog of the archaeological site's 45 year old sentry.  On February 20, 2016 one guard was killed and another, seriously injured in an exchange of gunfire with unidentified site looters.

In a notice on the university team's webpage the Deir el-Barsha Project has released the following statement.

We were shocked to be informed today of the death of our ghafir Ashrawi. As far as our information goes, some antiquities looters were apprehended by Ashrawi and two other guards. In an ensuing exchange of fire, Ashrawy got killed, the two others were injured. Ashrawy has been with us as a guard since the start of the KU Leuven mission to Dayr al-Barsha. He was a very loyal and gentle man (and, in fact, a gentleman). He would have deserved a better fate. Our thoughts are with his family.

As the Project's statement might be confusing to blog readers who do not read Arabic, ARCA would like to add some clarifications.  Ghafir (arabic خفير), in this case means site guard or site sentry and is not the guard's first name.

According to Arabic language newspaper Masr al-Arabia, the guard killed in the exchange of gunfire has been:

عسراوي كامل جاد، الشهير بـ "واعر"، المقيم  بقرية دير أبو حنس بملوي

A'srāwy Kāmel Jād, alternatively known as "Wāa'r" who was a resident in the village of Deir Abu Hanas in Mālwi.

Masr al-Arabia lists the guard wounded in the exchange of gunfire as:

علي خلف شاكر، المقيم  بقرية دير أبو حنس بملوي

Ali Khalaf Shāker who is a resident in the village of Deir Abu Hanas in Mālwi.

Shāker passed away on Sunday as a result of his injuries.  

The team of the Dayr al-Barsha project, KU Leuven, Belgium has established a Go Fund Me page for A'srāwy's and Ali's family, in order to cover, or partially cover some portion of the loss of his wages. Those who would like to contribute can follow this link.