An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed and four people injured, two of them soldiers, in a highway accident late on Monday in the northern Galilee.

The accident occurred near the Tank Junction on Highway 99 east of Kiryat Shmona close to 10:30 P.M., when a military jeep swerved from its lane and struck an oncoming pick-up truck head on.

The two vehicles went up in flames. Fire fighters from Kiryat Shmona arrived at the scene, put out the fires and pulled the passengers from the vehicles.

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One of the soldiers in the jeep was critically injured. He was evacuated from the scene by helicopter, but died before the craft reached Rambam hospital in Haifa.

The other two soldiers were moderately injured and taken to Sieff Hospital in Safed.

Two residents of the northern border village of Rajar were in the pick-up truck, and were lightly injured.