Gunmen in Hijacked Armored Vehicles Enter Israel from Sinai after Killing 13 Egyptian Troops

Gunmen in two armored vehicles crossed into Israel from Egypt near the Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday after hijacking the vehicles from an Egyptian outpost where they had killed at least 13 troops, the Israeli military said.

One vehicle exploded by itself while the other was destroyed from the air, the Israeli military added.

Israeli spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich said the army was conducting searches for remaining gunmen. She did not know how many were in the vehicles and if any had survived.

Earlier on Sunday, Egyptian security and medical sources said at least 13 Egyptian border guards were killed in an attack on a checkpoint near the country's border with Israel.

The medical source said gunmen in Bedouin attire drove up in two vehicles and opened fire on the post, killing 13 guards. The security official put the number of dead at 15.

Sinai-based Islamist militants are believed to have been responsible for several rocket attacks against Israel, which also blamed them for a cross-border ambush last year that killed nine Israelis.

The militants are also blamed for regular bombings of a pipeline that exports gas to Israel and Jordan.

The Sinai is home to Egypt's Red Sea resorts, a source of lucrative tourist income, and is also where the country's Bedouin, who were long marginalized under the regime of fallen strongman Hosni Mubarak, are based.

On July 19, gunmen believed to be Islamist militants shot dead two Egyptian soldiers in a dawn attack in north Sinai.

The attack came after Islamist militants distributed pamphlets calling on the army, brought in to restore security, to leave the lawless north of the peninsula.

The attack was in Sheikh Zuwaid, a town roughly 15 kilometers (nine miles) west of the Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip.

The military sent tanks and soldiers into the region last year to quell Islamist militants, after receiving permission from Israel. Under a 1979 peace treaty with Israel, Egypt should have a limited military presence in the area.