Israeli soldiers killed in Egypt border shooting: army

Israel's military said on Saturday that three of its soldiers were killed by live fire near the border to Egypt in the early hours of Saturday morning. 

"Three IDF soldiers were killed today," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) wrote on Twitter. "Two soldiers were killed by live fire adjacent to the Egyptian border, and the third during an exchange of fire with an assailant in the area of the Paran Regional Brigade." 

The IDF statement identified the assailant as "an Egyptian policeman," and said he had been fatally shot by troops. 

"An investigation is being conducted in full cooperation with the Egyptian army," the IDF said. Egyptian security sources also told news agencies that a joint investigation had been launched. 

A spokesperson for the Egyptian army confirmed that "a member of the security forces" was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops. 

A fourth Israeli soldier, a non-commissioned officer, sustained light injuries and was transferred to hospital. 

Connected to foiling drug-smuggling operation? 

Israeli army spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters that a major drug smuggling operation had been foiled during the night on the border with Egypt. Contraband goods worth in the region of $400,000 (around €380,000) had been seized.

But it was not immediately clear if or how these incidents were linked. 

Hecht said that two soldiers, one man and one woman, had been on guard overnight at a secluded desert area at the border and were found dead at their posts after failing to answer their radios. He said they were probably shot in the early hours of the morning. 

When their bodies were found, a search for a perpetrator began, leading to the exchange of fire in which a third Israeli soldier and the supposed Egyptian police officer were killed. 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that he had conducted a situational assessment with the head of the IDF and that the military "will investigate the event as required." 

Egyptian border comparatively calm, although militant attacks more common

Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979, and Egypt has become an important strategic partner for Israel as one of its neighbors on somewhat better terms. The government in Cairo also often operates as a mediator in the region, as it did last month arranging a truce in Gaza.

That said, the peace remains tense and anti-Israeli sentiment in Egypt is still widespread among ordinary people.

The border tends to be comparatively quiet, although the presence of Islamist militants in the Sinai Peninsula has contributed to several fatal incidents in recent years. 

In 2011, assailants from Sinai killed eight Israelis in a triple ambush north of Eilat. Israeli forces pursued them and killed seven attackers and five Egyptian police. 

In 2012, an Israeli soldier and three militants who infiltrated from Sinai were killed in a border clash. 

And in 2014, two Israeli soldiers on patrol were wounded by unidentified men firing an anti-tank weapon from Sinai during an attempted drug-smuggling operation.

The "Islamic State" group also claimed responsibility in 2015 for a series of rockets fired from Sinai which struck southern Israeli territory but caused no major damage or injuries. 

msh/nm (AFP, AP, Reuters)