Three Israeli soldiers were shot dead near the Egyptian border on Saturday by an Egyptian "policeman" who was shot dead, the Israeli army said Saturday, a rare incident whose circumstances are still unclear.
The Egyptian military said a "member of the security forces hunting down drug traffickers" had passed through a checkpoint between the two countries. According to her, an "exchange of fire with Israeli security forces that left three dead on the Israeli side". The Egyptian also died in this clash.
The Israeli army had initially announced the death of two soldiers shot dead by an "assailant" near the Egyptian border on Saturday morning. It then announced a third soldier killed in a midday shootout with an Egyptian "policeman" who was the alleged perpetrator of the initial attack. Wanted by the soldiers, the latter was shot dead during the shooting, according to the Israeli army.
The first two soldiers killed had begun Friday night a guard at an Israeli army post in the border area with Egypt, in the Negev desert, scene of recurring incidents related to drug trafficking. Their bodies were found Saturday morning, a military spokesman said.
The alleged killer hunted down and neutralized
A hunt was immediately launched to find the alleged killer, who was located a few hours later in the same area, in Israeli territory. "At noon, during the search, Israeli soldiers identified the assailant in Israeli territory," the army said in a statement.
In the ensuing exchange of fire, the assailant was killed along with an Israeli soldier, it said. One of the two soldiers killed in the initial attack was a woman, Lia Ben Nun, 19, the army said. The IDF unit tasked with patrolling the Israeli-Egyptian border is a mixed unit.
"An investigation is being conducted in full cooperation with the Egyptian army," it said. The Israeli military has also opened an investigation to try to clarify how the assailant managed to cross the meter-high fence along the border, a military spokesman said. He added that grey areas remained on both incidents and the motives of the assailant. Searches are underway to determine whether other attackers have managed to enter Israeli territory, he said.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. The border between the two countries, however, is the scene of regular drug smuggling attempts, which in recent years have resulted in exchanges of fire between smugglers and Israeli soldiers stationed along the border.
