Eritrean migrant killed on border with Israel

Egyptian police shot dead an Eritrean migrant as he tried to cross the border illegally into Israel, a security official told AFP on Thursday. "Police warned the man not to cross but he failed to stop and was fatally shot" late on Wednesday, the official said. The body of the migrant, who has not been identified, was taken to Al-Arish hospital in north Sinai. Last month, four migrants, believed to be Sudanese, were also killed as they tried to make the crossing. The Egypt-Israel border has become a major transit route for economic migrants, asylum-seekers and drug-smugglers, and Israel has urged Egypt to clamp down on the traffic. Egyptian border guards often shoot at African migrants who pay smugglers for passage into the Jewish state to look for work and to escape poverty, and many have been killed. At least nine African migrant have been killed so far this year, the official said. More than 30 were killed last year, most shot by police.