Troops wound Egyptian border guard

Soldiers fire at man after he cocks his weapon at them; IDF and Egyptian officials conduct joint probe.

IDF lookout Egypt border (photo credit: Channel 10)
IDF lookout Egypt border
(photo credit: Channel 10)
IDF troops shot and wounded an Egyptian border policeman overnight Sunday after the man cocked his weapon at them along the Israeli-Egyptian border. The incident occurred near Eilat when a routine patrol identified an armed figure moving near the border. When the troops challenged the man, he cocked his weapon, prompting the soldiers to open fire, the army said. The soldiers realized it was an Egyptian policeman only after the shooting, the military said. In Cairo, an Egyptian security official said the policeman had been hospitalized with a bullet wound in the chest. There were no IDF troops wounded in the incident. Following the incident, the IDF Southern Command and Egyptian forces conducted a joint investigation, which showed that the border policeman had not infiltrated Israeli territory and was on the Egyptian side of the border, but had also failed to identify himself after being called to do so by the Israeli soldiers. Since the 2005 disengagement, the IDF has been on high alert on the Egyptian border, fearing attempted infiltrations of terrorists from the Sinai peninsula. Many sections of the border are not fenced off.