Israeli soldiers fired this week on what they said was a glider flying from Jordan over Israeli airspace.
The soldiers, on duty near the Allenby Bridge crossing between Jordan and the West Bank, said they began firing after they spotted the glider flying low into Israel in the early morning hours on Wednesday.
Security officials immediately launched a daylong search of the area, but no traces of the glider or its pilot could be found.
It was not clear if the pilot had been hurt or if the glider went down.
Several previous attempts have been made by terrorists to use hang gliders to sail silently into Israel, but most attempts have failed.
In November 1987, a Palestinian guerrilla flew a motorized hang glider into Israel from Lebanon. He managed to kill six Israeli soldiers at an army camp before he was killed.
Since then, Israeli security has used sophisticated radar equipment, specially designed to pick out intruding light aircraft, to prevent the recurrence of such attacks.
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