Israeli army says kills 2 gunmen on Egypt border

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli soldiers killed two gunmen
dressed as Egyptian army officers who attacked them on Israel’s
border with Egypt on Friday, an Israeli military spokeswoman
said.

The gunmen were part of a three-person squad that stormed
across the frontier at dawn near Israel’s Mount Saguy, opposite
the Egyptian border town of Bir el-Ma’in, Lieutenant Michal
Luft said. The third gunman fled back over the border, she
said.

“The gunmen killed in the clash were in Egyptian military
uniforms with officer ranks, which is rare as Egyptian army
officers do not generally come to this area,” Luft said.

She declined to speculate on the identity of the gunmen.

An Egyptian Interior Ministry spokesman said he heard of a
clash at Israel’s border between three men coming from Egypt
and the Israeli military, but said he had not heard they were
wearing Egyptian army uniforms. He declined to comment further.

Egypt was the first Arab state to sign a peace deal with
Israel, in 1978, and their desert border is largely unfenced.

The frontier sees regular smuggling and occasional attempts
by Palestinian militants from the coastal Gaza Strip to cross
into the Egyptian Sinai and from there infiltrate into Israel.

Friday’s incident took place 100 km (63 miles) from Gaza, a
distance unusual for Palestinian infiltrations, Luft said.

Israeli troops killed an Egyptian smuggler in a border
clash on Tuesday.