'Massive weapons cache found in Sinai'

Arms headed for Gaza reportedly include TNT, shells from which terrorists planned to extract dynamite.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Gaza mortar fire 224.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
Gaza mortar fire 224.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Egyptian forces found a massive cache of arms in the Sinai peninsula, Israel Radio quoted an Arabic news Website as saying. The report, in Falastin al Youm, said Egyptian troops found two weapons caches in the northern and middle part of the peninsula, with one of them, buried deep underground, containing more than 250 kilograms of dynamite. In another cache, 211 anti-aircraft missile shells were discovered. Israel Radio quoted an official as saying Gaza terrorists were planning to extract the remainder of the dynamite found in the rocket shells. The weapons were in all likelihood intended for the Gaza Strip, and the smugglers who hid them in the desert were still at large. The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the report in Falastin al-Youm. Meanwhile, the Public Resistance Committees' Salah a-Din Brigades claimed responsibility for firing two mortar shells into the western Negev on Saturday. The shells landed in an open field near a kibbutz and no casualties or damage were reported. On Friday evening, nine Kassam rockets were fired at the western Negev. Some landed in open fields but one landed near the town of Sderot during the Friday prayers. No casualties or damage were reported. Palestinian groups said the weekend rocket and mortar shell salvoes were fired in retaliation for the settler violence against Palestinians from the Hebron area, which broke out on Thursday in the wake of the IDF's evacuation of a disputed house in the city. Settlers who were occupying the building were ordered by the state to evacuate it but had refused. Immediately upon evacuation, some of them proceeded to damage the property of Palestinians living near the house.