Israeli tank kills Egyptian soldiers

Walid al-Umari also reported that Tel Aviv had accepted the possibility that an Israeli occupation force tank mistakenly fired a shell into Egypt, but was as yet unwilling to make a statement.

"The Israelis claim they have killed the three soldiers mistakenly, believing them to be an armed group attempting to cross the border into occupied Gaza," he said.

Both government and military radio said the incident is under investigation at the "most senior levels".

The attack came just hours after the Israeli army, citing a surge in deadly operational mishaps, had scheduled a two-hour break in all training later on Thursday to discuss ways to prevent accidents and reduce negligence in soldiers' performance.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1290AE2A-9E6D-4959-8887-2A2B4EA4BCC2.htm

An IDF tank mistakenly fired on and killed three Egyptian soldiers near the Israeli-Egyptian border in the Rafah area early on Thursday, in an incident that Deputy Defense Minister Ze'ev Boim said was "regrettable and grave in its outcome."

The Israeli tank crew, operating near the Philadephi border strip that divides between the Palestinian and Egyptian halves of the divided border town, apparently believed the three to be terrorists planting a bomb, and then opened fire.

A investigation was immediately ordered into the incident, and the Foreign Ministry will participate with senior defense officials in the probe.

The army declined official comment on the incident.

The investigation is to examine a number of scenarios, including the possibility that the tank crew was firing at another target, but missed it, hitting the Egyptian soldiers instead.

Boim said that the area is a very senisitive one, with troops on high alert for terrorist activity. But he noted that the Egyptian army operates in the area to prevent smuggling of arms into the adjacent Gaza Strip

Prior to the Thursday incident, the army, citing a surge in deadly operational mishaps, had scheduled a two-hour break in all training later on Thursday to discuss ways to prevent accidents and reduce negligence in soldiers' performance.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/503304.html

Israeli forces have killed three Egyptian police after mistaking them for Palestinian militants trying to cross the border with the Gaza Strip.

The three died after a tank opened fire in the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli army radio says.

The area has been the scene of frequent clashes between soldiers and Palestinian fighters.

Haaretz newspaper quotes Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Zeev Boim as saying he regrets the incident.

An investigation has been launched.

Egypt and Israel have been at peace since 1979

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4021461.stm