Israel demands Egypt's help in border incident probe

JERUSALEM — Israel on Sunday buried three soldiers killed in a firefight at its usually secure border with Egypt and announced an "exhaustive and thorough" investigation into the deaths.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded on Sunday a full joint investigation with Cairo. Egypt said it is working with Israel to investigate the incident, which occurred on Saturday.

"Israel relayed a clear message to the Egyptian government," Netanyahu told his cabinet in televised remarks.

"We expect that the joint investigation will be exhaustive and thorough.

"We will refresh procedures and methods of operations and also the measures to reduce to a minimum the smuggling and to ensure tragic terrorist attacks like this do not happen again."

More details of the rare incident along the border emerged on Sunday, Reuters reported.

Israel's military said two of its soldiers were shot dead early on Saturday by an Egyptian security services member who crossed through the border fence. Their desert post was remote and it took a number of hours before their bodies were discovered.

"From that moment, a terrorist event was declared, leading to sweeps of the area," Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari told Israel's Ynet News. "A drone was sent up, and 1.5 kilometers inside Israel, a suspicious person was identified."

Soldiers then made contact, and during an exchange of fire, the Egyptian guard and a third Israeli soldier were killed.

On Saturday, Egyptian Minister of Defense and Military Production Mohamed Zaki and his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant discussed the deadly shootout.

During a phone conversation, the two ministers also discussed joint coordination to take necessary measures to prevent such incidents in the future, the Egyptian Armed Forces said in a statement.

Zaki extended condolences to the victims of the incident.

Both Israel and Egyptian armies said an investigation into the incident was underway.

Gallant said earlier on Twitter that he has held a situation assessment with other defense officials, noting that the Israeli Defense Forces "will investigate the incident as required".

Such confrontations along the Israel-Egypt border are rare as the two countries have maintained close security ties under a peace agreement signed by the two sides in 1979.

The Israeli military frequently carries out search-and-arrest operations on the common border to prevent drug and weapons smuggling.

In 2014, Israel completed the construction of a 242-km barrier along the shared border with Egypt, in an attempt to stop illegal immigration from African countries into Israel.

Agencies - Xinhua