Egypt seizes arms cache near Rafah

Border guards discover boxes containing rocket-propelled and hand grenades.

By YAAKOV KATZ
olmert mubarak egypt 298 (photo credit: AP [file])
olmert mubarak egypt 298
(photo credit: AP [file])
While stressing the need for additional Egyptian action against weapons smuggling from the Sinai into the Gaza Strip, defense officials expressed optimism Saturday with the discovery earlier in the day of a weapons cache by Egyptian border guards. Egyptian intelligence officials said Saturday that guards stopped the transfer of two boxes containing rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades from the Sinai into the Gaza Strip. Border guards and security forces, the officials said, uncovered the weapon caches buried under the sand north of the Rafah crossing in the northern Sinai Peninsula. The border guards, security forces and sniffing dogs continued to search for more weapons Saturday in the area, the official said. While commending the capture, military sources said that Egypt needed "to do more" to curb the non-stop flow of weapons from the Sinai to terror groups in the Gaza Strip. The officials noted the need for Egyptian action along the border with Israel near Eilat where a Palestinian suicide bomber crossed in last week and killed three Israelis in the seaside resort town.