Egypt protested angrily to Israel today and demanded a full explanation for what it called irresponsible Israeli conduct after an Israeli tank crew killed three Egyptian policemen at the Egyptian-Gaza border.
"While condemning and protesting strongly at this regrettable incident, Egypt demands the Israeli authorities hold an immediate, full and comprehensive investigation into the circumstances," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Hours earlier Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to apologise. Israel said its troops had mistaken the Egyptians for a group of Palestinian militants who were planting explosives against Israeli forces.
"President Mubarak seemed to accept Sharon's apology for this tragic incident," an Israeli official source said.
It was the most serious such incident for years on the border with Egypt, which in 1979 became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel.
The incident took place in the dark around 3 a.m. local time on the Israeli-controlled corridor separating the Gaza Strip from Egyptian territory to the west.
A senior Israeli security source said the tank fired off a single shell but the Egyptian state news agency MENA said all three policemen had bullet wounds, two of them multiple.
Major-General Dan Harel, chief of Israel's southern command, told reporters that after spotting what he thought was a group of Palestinian gunmen the Israeli tank commander asked the platoon leader for clearance to fire and had a 40-minute discussion with him before shooting.
"One shell was fired at the target and they saw that the gang (of Palestinians) was not hit. The firing was stopped and they began to try to figure out what happened," he said.
"The Egyptians told us that Egyptian policemen were hit... We made the connection between the casualties among the policemen and our having fired (at the gunmen). We immediately apologised and offered all necessary assistance," he added.
Israel's army put an Arabic-speaking spokesman on the Al Jazeera satellite channel to issue an apology.
"From the bottom of our hearts, we are sorry," Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told reporters.