EGYPT: Egyptian military uses mechanical diggers to collapse underground tunnels connecting Sinai in Egypt to the Gaza Strip

Record ID: 860751

  • Title: EGYPT: Egyptian military uses mechanical diggers to collapse underground tunnels connecting Sinai in Egypt to the Gaza Strip
  • Date: 14th July 2013
  • Summary: SINAI, EGYPT (JULY 14, 2013) (REUTERS) CRANE DEMOLISHING STONE WALL NEAR TUNNEL REMAINS OF DEMOLISHED TUNNEL CRANE FILLING TUNNEL ENTRANCE WITH WATER VARIOUS OF CRANE DEMOLISHING TUNNEL WATER OVER DEMOLISHED TUNNELS CRANE DEMOLISHING TUNNEL WITH WATER OVER ENTRANCE MILITARY OFFICER AND PERSONNEL WALKING TOWARDS DEMOLITION SITE MILITARY SOLDIERS WALKING PAST CRANE DEMOLISHING TUNNEL MILITARY OFFICER AND PERSONNEL AT DEMOLITION SITE MILITARY SOLDIER STANDS AS CRANE DEMOLISHES TUNNEL
  • Embargoed: 29th July 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • City:
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA55AKM05M72QADYQPJVX3P9TF4
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Egypt's military on Sunday (July 14) began demolishing several tunnels which connect Egypt with the Gaza Strip part of a campaign to fight Islamist militant groups in the area.
    In recent weeks, Egypt's army, citing security concerns as it confronts Islamist militants in the Sinai desert, has stepped up a crackdown on border tunnels with Gaza through which food, fuel, and weapons are smuggled.
    Several of the hundreds of tunnels lined all along the border with Gaza were filled with water at the top entrance to the tunnel and then covered with sand.
    Egypt holds the key to many aspects of life in the territory,from control of Rafah to brokering truces with Hamas's Israeli enemy and trying to heal a rift between Hamas and the rival Fatah faction of President Mahmoud Abbas.
    The tunnels have provided an economic lifeline for the enclave, and Egypt's military says the network is also used by militant groups on both sides of the frontier to transfer personnel and weapons.
    The campaign has dismayed Hamas and pushed up prices in the impoverished coastal enclave.
    Israel maintains an overland and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip but has eased some import restrictions in the past several years in the face of international criticism.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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