ISMAILIA, Egypt, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Egyptian border guards shot dead an Eritrean man trying to cross the border from Egypt to Israel, Egyptian police sources said on Monday.

The guards detained four other Eritreans travelling in the same group in the central section of the border in Sinai, they said.

The body of the Eritrean man arrived in hospital in the provincial capital El Arish on Sunday with a bullet wound in his back, they added.

The Sinai route is the main conduit for smugglers trying to take Africans into Israel for work or asylum, but the Egyptian guards have opened fire at many of them, killing at least one Sudanese so far this year.

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