Israel-Egypt border (archives)
Photo: Reuters
Egyptian police shot dead a Togolese man on the border with Israel
late on Friday as he tried to enter the Jewish state illegally, a security source said.
The source said a police patrol spotted the 25-year-old man trying to get through the barbed wire on the border and ordered him to stop, opening fire when he did not.
He died instantly of a gunshot wound to the head, the source said. His death brings to 28 the number of African migrants killed by Egyptian security on the border with Israel this year.
The migrants, mainly from Sudan, Ethiopia or Eritrea, are looking for work or asylum in Israel.
For years Egypt tolerated tens of thousands of Africans on its territory but its attitude hardened after it came under pressure to halt rising numbers of Africans trying to cross the border into Israel.
In November, US-based rights group Human Rights Watch called on Egypt to stop shooting African migrants.