A 38-year-old Eritrean woman was shot and killed by Egyptian border guards while trying to cross into Israel, Reuters reports. Two other women and a child were arrested.

According security sources, the dead woman was shot three times – in the stomach, right arm and left hand.

More than 60 migrants have died at the hands of Egyptian border guards since January 2008. In March, Navi Pillay, the UN human rights chief, accused Egypt of operating a shoot-to-kill policy:

"I know of no other country where so many unarmed migrants and asylum seekers appear to have been deliberately killed in this way by government forces," she said. "It is a deplorable state of affairs, and the sheer number of victims suggests that at least some Egyptian security officials have been operating a shoot-to-kill policy ... Sixty killings can hardly be an accident." 

Last week border guards shot and wounded a Sudanese man and arrested three others.

Earlier this month, Israeli forces killed a man who was said to be trying to smuggle drugs across the frontier.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 30 June 2010.