Egypt destroys 2 Gaza border tunnel

By Hussein Qabani

CAIRO

Egyptian army forces destroyed two cross-border tunnels linking Egypt's Sinai Peninsula with the blockaded Gaza Strip, a military spokesman said Sunday.

In a statement, Army Colonel Tamer al-Rifai said the openings of the two tunnels were demolished during security swoops in the North Sinai city of Rafah.

He said six militants were killed and 29 suspects detained during the operation.

Egyptian army forces have destroyed a total of 21 cross-border tunnels along border with Gaza since mid-January.

Blockaded by both Israel and Egypt since 2007, the Palestinian Gaza Strip has relied on the network of cross-border tunnels for years to import badly-needed supplies, including food, fuel and medicine.

Since the 2013 ouster of elected President Mohamed Morsi by the military, however, the Egyptian army has destroyed many of the tunnels, which it says are used to support militant activity in Sinai.

In recent months, the Egyptian army has been methodically flooding the cross-border tunnel network with seawater from the Mediterranean.

In 2014, the Egyptian authorities began setting up a "buffer zone" along the border with Gaza following a spate of militant attacks on Egyptian security personnel deployed in the volatile peninsula.