IDF troops wounded in Egyptian border shooting. Photo: screenshot, Ch2 News

Two IDF soldiers were moderately wounded when a three-man terror cell opened fire with an anti-tank rocket and small arms fire on an army jeep patrolling along the Egyptian border midday Wednesday, according to the army.

The wounded, a female officer and a male soldier from the mixed-gender Caracal infantry unit, according to IDF Spokesman Lt.-Col. Peter Lerner, were medivaced to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.

Troops managed to return fire, according to Army radio.

The IDF poured heavy ground and air forces into the area, in an effort to stabilize the situation and ensure that no terrorists were in Israeli territory.

“At this stage, there’s no indication that terrorists have infiltrated the area, and, so there are no special instructions for area residents,” a senior officer told NRG News.

IDF Spokesman Moti Almoz wrote on his Facebook page that “We will not hesitate to respond to any attack in IDF troops, and Israeli civilians,” although, as yet, the army is not firing into Egyptian territory.

Egyptian officials said the Islamist Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group was behind the attack, according to Walla News.

In a separate incident in the area, several soldiers were hurt when a vehicle they were traveling in overturned. It is unclear if the accident was connected to the shooting attack.

This report will be updated as more details are confirmed.

In 2012, in a similar attack, the IDF, Air Force and Special Forces, thwarted an attempt to execute a massive terrorist attack on Israel’s southern border with Egypt.

At about two in the afternoon on Sunday, August 5, terrorists, presumed to be members of the Global Jihad movement, infiltrated an Egyptian outpost on the Egyptian – Israeli border. After a prolonged battle, during which sixteen Egyptian soldiers were killed and seven were wounded, the terrorists overtook the base.

In in another cross-border attack in 2011, several jihadist cells opened fire on several vehicles further south along the same road, closer to the Red Sea resort city of Eilat, killing eight Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Watch a video clip of the arrival of the wounded troops to the hospital: