BEIT-UL-MOQADDAS (The Independent) -- The ceremonial departure from Israel of the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his new wife, Carla, was overshadowed Tuesday when a police officer shot and killed himself at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv.

Before the reason for the single gunshot became clear, security guards ushered M. Sarkozy and his wife on to the stairway to the aircraft. Whether in a panic or not, Mme Bruni-Sarkozy, who had been chatting seconds earlier with the Israeli President, Shimon Peres, rushed up the stairs ahead of her husband.
After the incident, which took place while a military band was playing, and at least 100 meters away from where the presidential couple were standing, security guards, guns drawn, hustled President Peres and the Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, to their cars.
The police officer’s death was a suspected and -- so far -- unexplained suicide.
Sarko: French President Nicolas Sarkozy and new wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy are rushed onto an airplane by security officers during a departure ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Tuesday.