The Egyptian Border Guard forces thwarted Tuesday an attempt to smuggle weapons through tunnels linking the Gaza Strip with the Egyptian city of Rafah, transported on five donkeys' backs, Sky News Arabia reported Tuesday. The Egyptian army received intel of logistic supplies being sent from Gaza to the Ansar Bayt Al Maqdis militant group in Sinai through the tunnels, a security source told Sky News Arabia yesterday. "Egyptian Border Guards were deployed on the borders with the Gaza Strip. They spotted five donkeys carrying large sacks full of weapons and ammunition at Tank Al Dawar district, behind the Rafah public hospital," the security source said, adding that the militants fled when they saw the soldiers, but forces succeeded in seizing the weapons. The Egyptian army is conducting a wide security campaign against Sinai-based militant groups responsible for deadly terrorist operations against police and army personnel in the peninsula, since the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi, in July 2013. The army has destroyed scores of tunnels between the Rafah border town and the Gaza Strip, which militants and Jihadis used to smuggle weapons and fighters, and established a buffer zone on the borders with the Strip since October 2014.
