Israel Finds Rocket Shrapnel Near Egypt Border

Israeli forces discovered the remnants of a rocket on Friday near the border with Egypt, two days after two explosions shook the area in a suspected cross-border shooting.

A military spokesman said “the remains of a rocket were found in the hills near Eilat”, a southern Red Sea resort town wedged between Jordan and Egypt.

The site where the shrapnel was found was closer to the Egyptian frontier, which has grown tense with a rise in rocket strikes and other violence since Israel’s ally, Hosni Mubarak, was toppled by a popular revolt last year.

There were no casualties in Wednesday’s rocket fire. The last attack took place on June 16, also causing no casualties. Eight Israelis were killed in a roadside ambush from Egypt’s Sinai peninsula a year ago.

Egypt has launched a crackdown against suspected Islamist militants in Sinai since an Aug. 5 attack on a military position that killed 16 Egyptian troops, by gunmen Israel killed after they subsequently stormed the Israeli border.

Egypt is one of two Arab countries to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, in 1979.

Reuters