June 24, 2008
Israeli police suicide causes panic at Sarkozy farewell

See the Video http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 205933.ece

Sheera Frenkel in Jerusalem, and Jenny Booth

An Israeli border policeman prompted scenes of panic at a Tel Aviv airport this afternoon by committing suicide at a farewell ceremony for President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and his wife, Carla Bruni.

All protocol was dropped as the man's body fell from a high vantage point and a shot rang out. Mr Sarkozy and Ms Bruni were surrounded by their secret service agents and hastily bundled aboard their plane.

Security guards for Ehud Olmert pulled out their handguns and hustled the Israeli Prime Minister and his entourage into waiting bullet-proof limousines.

When the incident ended, however, Mr Olmert and Shimon Peres, the Israeli President, boarded the Sarkozy plane to say a proper goodbye.

Israel Radio said that the officer who died was about 100m away from the Sarkozy plane as it waited on the runway at Ben Gurion, Israel's largest international airport. Two women soldiers who witnessed the incident fainted and were treated by medics.

The policeman apparently fell from a vantage point on a high building, where he had been guarding the event. Reports suggest the policeman shot himself in the head. “This was in no way an assassination attempt,â€