RAFAH: Israeli troops have shot dead an Egyptian Bedouin man who entered Israel illegally, an Egyptian security official said on Sunday.

Attia Mosleh Oda, 30, was shot dead on Saturday night after he crossed the Egypt-Israel border. Israeli authorities handed the body back to Egypt without providing further details on the circumstances of his death, the official said.

The porous 250-kilometer border has become a major transit route for migrants, asylum-seekers and drug smugglers.

Egyptian police killed at least 28 migrants, most of them Sudanese and Eritrean, on the border in 2008. None of them was armed.

The shooting of migrants has generated strong criticism from human rights groups. The migrants say they try to leave Egypt because of poverty and racism. – AFP