A group of militants who sneaked across the Egyptian border killed an Israeli civilian on Monday, sparking a firefight which left at least two gunmen dead, the military said. And following more than six hours of searches, the army said it had ruled out the possibility any gunmen were still on the loose inside southern Israel as initially feared. The deadly border incident, which mirrored a similar attack in August 2011 in which a cell of gunmen from Sinai staged a series of deadly ambushes on southern Israel, killing eight, sparked sharp condemnation from Israel which urged Egypt to “take responsibility” for the situation in Sinai. “We see here a disturbing deterioration in Egyptian control in the Sinai,” said Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak of the attack which took place just hours after the final round of voting in Egypt’s presidential election ended. “We are waiting for the results of the election. Whoever wins, we expect them to take responsibility for all of Egypt’s international commitments, including the peace treaty with Israel and the security arrangements in the Sinai, swiftly putting an end to these attacks.” Israeli military officials said the ambush began around 6:00 am (0300 GMT) when a group of at least three gunmen sneaked across the border and attacked two vehicles taking a group of Israeli construction workers to a site where they are building part of the vast fence along the frontier. The attack, which took place on a civilian road in Nahal Lavan, an area several kilometres (miles) from the border, saw militants detonating explosive devices, using Kalashnikov assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich told reporters.
