Egypt lodged a formal complaint with Israel on Friday over the killings of three members of its security forces overnight Thursday, Reuters reported.
The three, an Egyptian army officer and two other security men, were killed when Israeli forces launched an operation to pursue terrorists who launched the multiple attacks in southern Israel on Thursday. Seven other security men were injured.
“Egypt has filed an official protest to Israel over the incidents at the border yesterday (Thursday) and demands an urgent investigation over the reasons and circumstances surrounding the deaths of three of Egypt’s forces,” the Egyptian army said in a statement quoted by Reuters after a meeting of the ruling military council.
The circumstances of the deaths were not immediately clear. An official in the Egyptian army had told Reuters following the incident that the three were caught in the line of fire, but the army said Friday it had launched its own investigation.
On Friday morning, a suicide bomber struck near the site of Thursday’s deadly attacks, hitting Egyptian soldiers near the border. The attack caused injuries and fatalities among the Egyptian soldiers.
According to Egyptian security sources, at least three additional Egyptian policemen died in clashes with gunmen in the Sinai Peninsula on Friday.
Egyptian officials admitted on Thursday the Sinai Peninsula has been in a state of anarchy since the uprising in Egypt that resulted in the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak. The Egyptian army started this week “Operation Eagle” in the region, aimed at hunting down terrorists hiding in the region.
Meanwhile, dozens of Egyptians demonstrated outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo following Friday prayers.
Al-Jazeera reported the demonstrators burned the Israeli flag and chanted, “Close the embassy! Expel the ambassador!”
Presidential candidates Amr Moussa and Hamdeen Sabbahi denounced the killing of the three Egyptian security men, with Moussa saying in comments on his website, “Israel must realize that the day when Egypt’s sons are killed without an appropriate and strong reaction are over.”
(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)