Eritrean migrant killed on Egypt-Israel border

Sep 23, 2009, 8:33 GMT

Al-Arish, Egypt - Egyptian border guards fatally shot an Eritrean man and seriously wounded a second as they tried to cross into Israel, police said Wednesday.

Police said border guards opened fire on five people trying to cross the border illegally on Tuesday night after the group failed to respond to orders to stop.

The wounded man was taken to hospital in the nearby town of al-Arish with wounds to his abdomen and foot, police told the German Press Agency dpa.

Three Ethiopians arrested with the group said they had paid human-traffickers the equivalent of 500 dollars to help them sneak across the border, police said.

Egypt has come under fire from international human rights groups for shooting at African migrants trying to cross illegally into Israel.

On Saturday, police confirmed that border guards had shot and wounded a 20-year-old Ethiopian man as he tried to make the crossing. The man had been one of a group of migrants from several African countries confronted by border guards.

Last week, just days after Egyptian government officials defended the use of force along the Egypt-Israel border, two Eritreans were shot dead.

International human rights groups have criticized as heavy-handed the actions of Egypt's border forces. According to London-based Amnesty International, dozens of migrants have been killed while trying to illegally cross into Israel from Egypt since 2008. Israeli groups say thousands more have succeeded.