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JERUSALEM, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Two Israeli soldiers were killed on Sunday when a grenade exploded during a military exercise in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights bordering Syria, army officials said.
A military spokesperson said in a statement that three other soldiers sustained light to moderate injuries in the incident, which occurred in the morning but was kept confidential until the afternoon.
The spokesperson identified the killed as Sgt. Husam Tafish, a 24-year-old man from the Druze town of Beit Jann in northern Israel, and Sgt. Shlomo Rindenow, a 20-year-old man, originally from United States' New Jersey.
The incident occurred as the driver of an army jeep pulled up to an army post outside the Druze town of Majdal Shams and exited the vehicle while holding a grenade, which then exploded, online newspaper The Times of Israel reported.
Israel has many army bases and often holds military drills in the Golan Heights, a territory it captured from Syria during the 1967 Mideast War.
