Three Israeli soldiers, Egyptian border guard killed in gunbattle in southern Israel

A gunbattle involving an Egyptian border guard in southern Israel along the border left three Israeli soldiers and the Egyptian officer dead Saturday, officials said. It was a rare instance of deadly violence along the frontier.

Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli army spokesperson, said the fighting began overnight when soldiers thwarted a drug-smuggling attempt across the border.

He said several hours later, two soldiers in a guard post were shot and killed. Their bodies were found after the shooting, when they did not respond to radio communications.

Hecht said the killings appeared to be connected to the thwarted drug smuggling attempt. The army said the Egyptian border guard was killed in a second exchange of fire in which a third Israeli soldier was killed.

The Egyptian military said an Egyptian border guard crossed the border security barrier and exchanged fire with Israeli forces while he was chasing drug traffickers. It said in a statement that the Egyptian border guard was killed along with three Israeli troops.

Hecht said an investigation was being conducted in full cooperation with the Egyptian army. He said troops were searching for other possible assailants.

It was the first deadly exchange of fire along the Israel-Egypt border in over a decade.

The Israeli army said one of the killed soldiers was a woman.

Criminals sometimes smuggle drugs across the border, while extremist militant groups are also active in Egypt’s restive north Sinai. Israel and Egypt signed a peace agreement in 1979 and maintain close security ties. Fighting along their shared border is rare.

The exchange of fire reportedly took place around the Nitzana border crossing between Israel and Egypt. The crossing is located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the point where Israel’s border with Egypt and the Gaza Strip converge. It’s used to import goods from Egypt destined for Israel or the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Israel built a fence along the porous border a decade ago to halt the entry of African migrants and extremist militants who are active in Egypt’s Sinai desert.

Egypt’s defense minister Mohamed Zaki offered his condolences on Saturday to his Israeli counterpart following a shooting incident that left three Israeli soldiers and one Egyptian security officer dead, the Egyptian army said.