Report: Egypt creating buffer zone on Gaza-Sinai border, destroys 10 tunnels

Egyptian security source says that buffer would extend up to 500 meters in some areas.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Egyptian soldiers keep guard in Sinai 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Egyptian soldiers keep guard in Sinai 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Egyptian army destroyed ten tunnels and seven homes on the border with the Gaza Strip in the Sinai peninsula on Saturday, Palestinian new agency Ma'an reported. The homes destroyed were those that the tunnels were located in, an Egyptian security source told Ma'an.
The destruction of the tunnels is part of an Egyptian campaign to create a buffer zone along the border with Gaza in the town of Rafah that would extend 300 meters in populated areas and 500 meters in open areas, according to the security source.
 
Also on Saturday, the Egyptian army safely detonated three explosive devices placed in military vehicles and armored cars in the northern Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid, and it raided militant strongholds in the area, the Egyptian security source told Ma'an. 
 
The Egyptian army and police in the Sinai have been targeted by Islamist rebels persistently since the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi last year. 
In one of the deadliest attacks, suspected Islamist terrorists killed at least 24 policemen last August. 
Last week, Israel targeted terror suspect Abdallah Kharti in an IDF missile strike. Kharti is seen by Israeli intelligence as a key link in a Salafi-jihadi terrorist network that spans the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula.