JERUSALEM: Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Saturday said Israel “regrets” the deaths of Egyptian policemen killed on the border during an Israeli pursuit of militants who killed eight Israelis.

“Israel regrets the deaths of Egyptian policemen during the attacks on the Egyptian-Israeli border,” Barak said about Thursday's assault by gunmen in the Eilat region of Israel.

The defence minister said he ordered the Israeli “army to open an investigation,” in remarks that came hours after Egyptian state media said the Cairo government decided to recall its envoy from Tel Aviv to protest the killings.

“The circumstances of this incident will be examined jointly with the Egyptian army,” and the conclusions will be drawn in light of the results of the probe, Barak said in a statement.

He also insisted that the peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel was “strategic and highly important for stability in the Middle East.”

Earlier, Egyptian Information Minister Osama Heykal was quoted as saying by the state-run MENA news agency that five policemen were killed “inside Egyptian territory as a result of an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and armed elements inside Israeli territory.” There had been conflicting reports of the deaths.

Security forces told AFP that five policemen, including an officer, were killed at the border on Thursday during an Israeli pursuit of militants who killed eight Israelis.

The military initially told MENA on Thursday that two policemen were killed when an Israeli aircraft opened fire on the fleeing militants, catching the policemen in the line of fire.

But military and security officials later said the policemen were killed in a clash with gunmen as they tried to enter Egypt.

The deaths prompted anger in Egypt where hundreds of people demonstrated overnight outside the Israeli embassy calling for the expulsion of the Jewish state's envoy and some torching Israeli flags on Saturday.

The decision reported by state media to recall Cairo's ambassador from Tel Aviv is the first diplomatic spat between the two neighbours since a popular uprising ousted former president Hosni Mubarak in February.

Egypt has only recalled its ambassador from Israel once since the peace treaty was signed in 1979, that happened in November 2000 after it accused the Jewish state of using “excessive force” to crush a Palestinian uprising.