ISRAEL/EGYPT: Egypt protested angrily to Israel yesterday and demanded an explanation for what it called "irresponsible Israeli conduct" after an Israeli tank crew killed three Egyptian policemen at the border between Egypt and Gaza.
"While condemning and protesting strongly at this regrettable incident, Egypt demands that the Israeli authorities hold an immediate, full and comprehensive investigation into the circumstances," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Hours earlier, the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, called President Hosni Mubarak to apologise. Israel said that its troops had thought the Egyptians were Palestinian militants planting explosives. "President Mubarak seemed to accept Mr Sharon's apology," an official source said.
The incident was the most serious for years on the border with Egypt, which in 1979 became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel. It occurred at about 3 a.m. local time yesterday on the Israeli-controlled corridor separating the Gaza Strip from Egyptian territory to the west.
A senior Israeli security source said that the tank fired a single shell, but the Egyptian state news agency, MENA, said that all three policemen had bullet wounds, two of them multiple.
Maj-Gen Dan Harel, the chief of Israel's southern command, told reporters that after spotting what he thought was a group of Palestinian gunmen the Israeli tank commander asked the platoon leader for clearance to fire and had a 40-minute discussion with him before shooting.
"One shell was fired at the target and they saw that the gang was not hit. The firing was stopped and they began to try to figure out what happened," he said. "The Egyptians told us that Egyptian policemen were hit. We made the connection between the casualties among the policemen and our having fired. We immediately apologised and offered all necessary assistance."
Israel put an Arabic-speaking spokesman on the Al Jazeera satellite television channel to issue an apology. "From the bottom of our hearts, we are sorry," Israel's Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Olmert, told reporters.
The incident increased tensions at a time when Israel wants Egyptian help to secure Gaza if the Jewish state goes ahead with a plan to withdraw its forces from the area next year.
Col David Menachem, Israel's acting commander in Gaza, said that his soldiers had targeted "terrorists" who had slipped into the narrow corridor under cover of darkness and were laying a mine.