Last update - 00:00 14/10/2006
Egypt: Border guard shot dead near Israel frontier was killed in accident
By News Agencies
An Egyptian border guard was killed Saturday in a gun accident while on patrol in the Sinai peninsula along the border with Israel, officials said.
The incident occurred near the Taba border crossing, officials said earlier on condition of anonymity.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said the guard was shot in the head when another guard's gun discharged two bullets as he was loading it.
Earlier, some security sources said preliminary investigations showed one guard was killed and another wounded after a dispute with a third guard. Other sources said a probe would include the possibility shots may have come from Israel.
Officials had identified the deceased as Ihab Gouda Mohammed, 22, and the other guard reportedly wounded in the incident as Mohammed Diyab Hassan.
A security official in Cairo said that Mohammed was mistakenly shot by Hassan as he was filling his magazine with bullets.
The official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the press, said Hassan was not hurt.
The Sinai peninsula has been the scene of three deadly bomb attacks over the past two years that have targeted popular Red Sea resorts and killed scores of people. Egypt has blamed local militants for the bombings.
Smuggling is common along the Egypt-Israel border. Shootings are common in the Sinai, but violence among Egyptian soldiers is rare.
The area was captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War and returned to Egypt in 1982, after the countries signed a peace treaty.