Border fortification near Egypt.
Border fortification near Egypt.Israel news photo: Flash 90

Terrorists hiding behind sand dunes fired on a bus filled with soldiers at the border near Eilat Sunday afternoon. The bus was damaged.

The attack occurred several hours after another explosion on the Egyptian-Israeli gas pipeline. The two incidents are not necessarily connected but underscore the ability of Muslim terrorists to operate freely in the Sinai Peninsula.

The shooting attack occurred in the area of Ein Netafim, adjacent to the Egyptian-Israeli border.

A high alert was raised by the IDF, which immediately deployed other soldiers to comb the area for other terrorists.

It was the third security incident in five weeks at the increasingly volatile border.

Israeli security forces less than two weeks ago shot and killed one suspected terrorist and wounded another who had crossed the border fence from Sinai into Israel.

Last month, terrorists attacked an Israeli construction team working on the fence, killing one man. Last year, nine Israelis died in a multi-pronged terrorist attack on a bus traveling on the highway 10, between Eilat and the Ovdat air base and terminal in the western Negev. The IDF has alternately closed and opened the road.