Egyptian police shot dead an African migrant as he tried to cross the border into Israel, security sources said.
The migrant has not yet been identified, but security sources said he was likely Chadian.
Another Chadian migrant was injured and taken to a hospital in Rafah, in north Sinai for treatment, a medical source said.
The Sinai border is a major transit route for African migrants and refugees seeking work or asylum in Israel. Egypt has come under pressure from Israel to stop the flow, but rights groups complain about the methods of the border police.
Egyptian police have killed at least 18 migrants this year, compared to 19 for the whole of 2009.
The United Nations and Amnesty International have called on Egypt to investigate its border guards’ suspected use of excessive force against unarmed migrants.
Security forces say they fire at migrants only after repeated orders to stop are ignored, and say that in some cases smugglers who ferry migrants to the border have opened fire on security forces.
Egypt passed in May a law imposing penalties on human traffickers. Those convicted could get life imprisonment or a fine of up to 500 million Egyptian pounds ($88 million).
Pic: Egyptian police
Source: www.af.reuters.com
