Egyptian police officer kills three Israeli soldiers in border shooting
AN EGYPTIAN policeman killed three Israeli soldiers yesterday morning after crossing the border, in a rare instance of deadly violence on the frontier.
The first two soldiers – a man and a woman – were killed while manning a guard post near the border in the Negev desert, the Israeli military said. The pair began their shift late on Friday night, and their bodies were discovered after they did not respond to radio calls early yesterday morning.
It triggered a manhunt during which the third soldier and the gunman were killed in a confrontation on Israeli soil hours later. A fourth soldier was taken to hospital with slight wounds.
One of the victims was identified as Sgt Lia Ben Nun, 19, a combat soldier in the Bardelas Battalion, one of five mixed-gender units within Israel’s Border Defence Corps. The soldier killed in the later attack was named as 20-yearold Staff Sgt Ohad Dahan. The other soldier’s identity has not been made public.
But the details of what happened remain vague. Egyptian sources said a group of armed men had been involved.
An Egyptian army spokesman said a member of its security forces chased a group of drug smugglers across the border before a gunfight ensued.
The motivation for the attack remains unclear, but the Israeli military said it was investigating in full cooperation with the Egyptian army.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and the two countries have a stable relationship. It is one of the most serious incidents on the border in decades.
Israel has in the past decade constructed a tall fence along the border, largely aimed at keeping out migrants and Islamist terrorists. However, there are frequent attempts to smuggle drugs over the barrier. Hours before the shootings yesterday, Israeli troops reportedly foiled a major smuggling plot. It has led some to speculate that the two incidents could be connected.