Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt has reported the capture of Soviet-origin rockets from the Gaza Strip.

Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency said several BM-21 Grad surface-to-surface rockets were intercepted as they were being smuggled to the Gaza Strip.

MENA said the shipment consisted of 20 rockets and launchers, meant to be transported in the tunnels that connect Rafah, divided between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.

“There was a battle with Palestinian Islamist militias at the opening of
one of the tunnels,” MENA said on July 12.

The report came amid the mini-war between Israel and the Gaza Strip, in
which Palestinians fired some 700 rockets into the Jewish state. MENA did
not say which group in Sinai was meant to acquire the Palestinian weapons.

But Egyptian security sources said the rockets captured in Rafah were
meant to be fired toward Israel from the Sinai Peninsula. They said Egypt
and Israel intensified security cooperation to stop the flow of weapons to
and from the Gaza Strip.

On July 14, Egypt reported the killing of eight soldiers in Sinai. The
Interior Ministry said the soldiers were killed in a mortar attack on El
Arish.

  BM-21 Grad, Egypt seizes rockets being smuggled into Gaza Strip, Rafah, seizes Soviet-origin rockets, Sinai Peninsula