Soldier killed in spat with Israeli comrade

According to military sources, Alfred Cohen, 20, of Dimona, then cut off Shahar Cohen's telephone call and a fistfight broke out between them.

Fellow soldiers separated them, the sources said, but then Shahar Cohen went to his room, took his assault rifle, loaded and cocked it and went looking for Alfred Cohen. He then found Alfred Cohen and allegedly shot him on the spot.

Channel 1 said Shahar Cohen then telephoned Alfred Cohen's mother to tell him he had just murdered her son, but this report could not be immediately confirmed.

The army said the last time a soldier had shot and killed another in a personal dispute was 15 years ago at an army training base in Tze'elim, when a reservist shot and killed another soldier in an argument.

But Lt.-Col. (res.) Zvika Kaufman, former head of Military Police investigations, told Israel Radio that shooting incidents take place an average of once a year.