2023-06-03 12:07:24
Two Israeli soldiers and one woman were killed in an armed attack on the Egyptian border on Saturday. The attacker was an Egyptian police officer, the Israeli army said. He was fatally hit in an exchange of gunfire. It was initially unclear how he was able to cross the heavily guarded border fence. Israel’s military continued to search the area at the scene of the incident in Har Kharif.
Israeli army spokesman Richard Hecht told journalists that a major drug smuggling operation on the Egyptian border was foiled overnight. However, it is still unclear whether this is directly related to the fatal incident. A male and female soldier stood guard in a lonely place on the border. They were probably shot in the early morning.
The army only noticed this when they didn’t report back on the radio, said Hecht. Then their bodies were found and the search for the perpetrator or perpetrators began. Then there was an exchange of fire with the alleged perpetrator, who was armed with a Kalashnikov. A third Israeli soldier was also killed. Hecht said they were working closely with the Egyptian authorities.
Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979. Nevertheless, there have been several deadly attacks by militant groups on the border between the two countries in the past. In a bomb attack on a bus in the seaside resort of Taba on the border with Israel in 2014, three tourists from South Korea and the Egyptian bus driver were killed.
A devastating attack on a military checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula in August 2012 killed 16 Egyptian soldiers. The attackers then tried to break through the nearby border with Israel with two captured military vehicles. They were stopped by Israeli security forces. The Israeli military killed five assassins. The bodies of three other assassins were found on the Egyptian side.
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