Eight African migrants were killed after they clashed with the traffickers who were to help them cross the border from Egypt into Israel, an Egyptian security source told dpa Saturday.
Clashes started late on Friday when one of the migrants seized a weapon from the smugglers in a bid to escape after the demanded 2,000 dollars from each migrant instead of 1,000 dollars to let them cross into Israel.
Two of the migrants died at the scene as both sides exchanged gunfire, while the rest of the group were able to escape.
Egyptian police arrested some of the group, but later found the dead bodies during a search they launched in the Sinai peninsula.
Smugglers and migrants regularly try to infiltrate the border and enter Israel, often to find work. In many cases, police open fire on them, with human rights groups slamming the growing number of fatalities.
The 250-kilometre border is guarded on the Egyptian side by a maximum of 750 policemen who, under Egypt's 1979 Camp David peace accord with Israel, may only be lightly armed.