Three Israeli soldiers killed near Egypt border

Three Israeli soldiers have been killed and others wounded by a gunman near the border with Egypt, the army says.

It says a male and female soldier were shot dead on Saturday morning. Their bodies were discovered after an officer was unable to contact them.

The alleged attacker was later killed and a third Israeli soldier shot dead during a search operation.

The incident happened just hours after a drug smuggling operation had been thwarted at the border.

An Israeli military spokesman, Col Richard Hecht, said drugs worth 1.6m shekels ($400,000) had been seized after someone used a ladder to cross the fence.

He said that this was assumed to be connected to the later shootings.

Asked about the identity of the gunman, Col Hecht told journalists: "It could be Isil [the Islamic State jihadist group], it could be a border guard, it could also be a smuggler and we are still looking into it. It's still not clear what his identity was."

Investigations in the area are continuing.

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