Cairo  - An Egyptian police officer was killed Monday in a shootout with smugglers on Egypt's border with Israel, security sources said.

A police patrol, conducting a security inspection in the border area of Bi'r Main in the Sinai peninsula, spotted the smugglers while they were trying to cross the border into Israel, the sources said.

The police officer, Mohamed Faruq al-Qirsh, was shot in the abdomen while the patrol tried to stop the smugglers, the state- owned MENA news agency said.

Al-Qirsh died of his wounds.

The police have been chasing the smugglers in the mountainous area in the desert peninsula, north-east of Egypt.

Human-trafficking rings are active in the area, which is a transit route for many refugees and economic migrants, mainly from Africa, seeking to enter Israel to look for work.

In the past year, scores of migrants have been caught by Egyptian border police. Several others have been killed while trying to cross the border. (dpa)