Sinai (archive photo)
Photo: AP
Egyptian police seize explosives in Sinai - officials
Police say they suspect material was destined to be smuggled into Palestinian territories
Egyptian police seized 1-1/2 tons of explosives in central Sinai on Monday, security officials said, adding they suspected the material had been destined to be smuggled into the Palestinian territories.
One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that security forces on a routine patrol found the explosives packed in 40 sacks and hidden in a mountainous area. They were believed to have been intended for the Gaza Strip.
Egyptian police routinely find large quantities of explosives and ammunition in Sinai, sometimes hidden in tunnels near the border with neighboring Gaza.
Tension have also mounted recently between Egyptian police and Sinai Bedouin who took to the streets in April over the deaths of two Bedouin in a chase with the police.
Hundreds of Bedouin later massed near the border with Israel seeking entry to the Jewish state because of what they describe as the poor treatment they receive from Egyptian authorities.
Egypt has blamed a group of Islamist Sinai Bedouin sympathetic with the Palestinians for attacks on resorts popular with Israeli tourists in the peninsula since 2004.
Bedouin and human rights groups say Egyptian security services launched campaigns of arbitrary arrests of Bedouin after each attack, fuelling public anger in Sinai.
