Women complete Israeli army sniper course for first time

Tel Aviv - For the first time in the history of the Israeli army, women have completed a sniper's course, in which, among other skills, they learned to hit a target from a distance of one kilometer, an Israeli military spokeswoman said Wednesday. The six-week-long sniper's course was previously considered one of the last "male bastions" in the army, but, according to the Ma'ariv daily, 13 of the 16 participants in the last round of training were women.

The daily reported that women snipers stationed on the border between Israel and the Sinai peninsula recently prevented a half a tonne of drugs from entering Israel, when they took out two drug smugglers from a distance of one kilometer.

A senior officer said the ultimate goal is to attach a sniper company to each infantry battalion.

He said the snipers, both male and female, would have to demonstrate such skills as waiting in ambush for as long as ten hours and then within one minute firing a shot that would have to hit a target.