CAIRO (AFP) -- Egypt has asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to launch an enquiry into claims made in a documentary that Israeli troops executed Egyptian prisoners during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

"Egypt has officially requested the ICRC to launch an enquiry into the matter of the prisoners and to hand over relevant documents," State Minister for Legislative Affairs Mufid Shehab told parliament on Monday.

Israeli public television in February broadcast a documentary on Israel's Shaked commando in which it said 250 Egyptian PoWs were killed by the unit in the El-Arish area of the Sinai peninsula during the 1967 Six Day War.

However, the director of the film subsequently said he had mistakenly identified Palestinian fighters who were killed in combat as Egyptian prisoners.

The ICRC representative in Cairo, Gerard Peytrignet, confirmed to AFP that Egypt had asked for documents over a week ago, but he could not comment on the request for an enquiry.

"We have been approached by the Egyptian authorities to supply information in our possession concerning the 1967 war," Peytrignet said, adding that the request had been passed on to headquarters in Geneva.

He said it would take "some time" to retrieve the necessary information from the archives.

The ICRC in Geneva was not immediately available for comment.