The clashes took place late Friday after the migrants seized the weapons of the people traffickers in a bid to escape, the official said.
He said four Eritreans — three men and a woman — were killed in an exchange of fire between the migrants and smugglers, and police shot dead two Eritreans from the same group as they tried to cross illegally into Israel.
The police detained 22 migrants, five of whom were wounded in the violence, and were still searching for the smugglers as well as for other members of the group, the security official said.
After a failed attempt to smuggle the migrants into Israel, the traffickers had demanded money for their release, migrants told police. The traffickers had tied up around 300 of the illegal migrants, but several managed to escape and grab weapons from their captors, setting off the fighting. Over 200 of the migrants fled, officials said.
Hundreds of Africans seeking political asylum or jobs in Israel try to sneak across the border each year, helped by Bedouin traffickers who charge up to $1,000 for the trip.
Dozens have been shot dead by Egyptian border guards. The United Nations has criticized Egypt for killing more than 60 African migrants trying to reach Israel through the Sinai Desert since 2007.
Cairo has rejected harsh criticism from human rights groups of its policy of using potentially lethal force against migrants along its 250-km border with Israel. The government says it fires warning shots first.
Despite the border shootings, the number of illegal migrants attempting to cross into Israel is rising. Most of them come from Sudan and the Horn of Africa. The number of African asylum-seekers in Israel is around 20,000.
The latest deaths bring to 28 the number of African migrants killed so far this year in attempts to cross to Israel, 24 of them by Egypt's police.
