CAIRO: The Egyptian authorities must rein in their border guards, Amnesty International said on Wednesday, a day after four migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were shot dead near the Israeli border.

"Enough is enough," said Malcolm Smart, the rights group's Middle East director. "They must assert greater control over their forces at the border and take away their license to kill."

The latest killings bring to 12 the number of migrants shot dead by Egyptian security this year as they tried to enter Israel illegally, according to Egyptian officials. None of those killed was armed.

The migrants killed on Tuesday were not carrying identification papers and were caught trying to slip past the barbed wire fence marking Egypt's border with Israel, a security official said.

They were shot when they tried to flee. Two Ethiopians in the same group were wounded, one of them seriously, and another was arrested.

The incident was the deadliest yet in a series of shootings of migrants near the border with Israel.

At least 28 migrants were killed trying to cross the border last year.

The porous 250-kilometer frontier has become a major transit route for migrants, asylum-seekers and drug smugglers. Israel has asked Egypt to clamp down on the traffic.

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