Egypt-Israel border. Photo: wiki commons.

In what Israeli military officials said was an unusual occurrence, IDF soldiers shot at  several unidentified men near the Israeli border with Egypt Sunday night.

According to an IDF spokesman, soldiers shouted out warnings to two unidentified men as they attempted to cross the border fence by foot, but the calls went unheeded. At the same time, a vehicle arrived from the Israeli side, and approached the border fence, driving towards the men, entering a closed military zone. IDF soldiers fired in the air, and then opened fire at the vehicle, striking and injuring two of its occupants. The gunmen on the Egyptian side ran off.

IDF personnel in the area have remained on high alert since the toppling of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak nearly two years ago led to an increasingly volatile atmosphere in the area.