Egypt, Israel to form joint committee to probe Friday border incident: Olmert

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday that his country and Egypt will set up a joint committee to investigate Friday border incident, during which two Egyptian policemen were shot dead by Israeli border guards.

Olmert revealed the decision at a joint conference with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. This is Olmert's first visit to Egypt since he became Israeli prime minister on May 4.

The Israeli prime minister sent his condolences to the Egyptian side on the deaths of the two Egyptian policemen.

"We have decided to set up a joint committee to study the incident," Olmert told the reporters, adding that he had order the Israeli security authorities to cooperate their Egyptian counterparts in the investigation.

On Friday morning, a firefight between Israeli border guards and Egyptian policemen erupted at the Egyptian-Israeli border in northern Sinai, during which two Egyptian policemen were shot dead by Israeli forces.

The Egyptian security authorities said in an early investigation report that the two policemen were killed by Israeli border guards on the Egyptian side of the borders and their bodies were then dragged to Israeli side by Israeli soldiers to cover up the action, according to Egypt's official MENA news agency.

The Israeli side, however, reported that three Egyptian border policemen had crossed the border and exchanged fire with Israeli border guards, during which two Egyptian policemen were killed while a third one fled back to Egypt.

Source: Xinhua