Israeli soldiers patrolling the southern border mistakenly shot and injured an Egyptian policeman in an overnight incident, said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Monday.

Initial probes found that during a routine patrol along the Israel-Egypt border, an IDF unit identified a suspicious and apparently armed figure approaching and ordered him to stop, an IDF spokesman told Xinhua. Yet the man cocked his weapon, which prompted Israeli soldiers to open fire, added the army.

It was after the shooting incident when the patrol realized that the figure was an Egyptian police officer, stressed the IDF, adding that a joint investigation by the two sides is already underway.

Such incidents between the forces of the two neighbors are rare since the Jewish state and the Arab state signed a peace treaty 30years ago, which still serves as a cornerstone of regional stability in the Middle East.

The Israeli-Egyptian border has been largely peaceful in recent memory, except for the two neighbors' struggle against smugglers, illegal immigrants and infiltrators. Weeks ago, an African immigrant was shot and killed when attempting to cross the border into Israel.