3 Smugglers die as tunnel collapses
And good riddance. The
Washington Times has the story:
bq.
3 smugglers killed as tunnel collapsed
Three Palestinians were killed Thursday in the collapse of a tunnel they were digging on the border between Rafah in southern Gaza and Egypt.
bq. Witnesses and security sources said three young men, members of a same family, were killed as they were digging an underground tunnel to smuggle
food, cigarettes and dairy products from Egypt into the Gaza Strip.
Emphasis mine -- the tunnels primary use is to smuggle bomb making supplies and ammunition. This is why Israel demolishes them as soon as they find them.
There is a good mention of this in this
recent article at ABC News:
bq.
SCENE OF FREQUENT FIGHTING
The area near the Palestinian town of Rafah, a militant stronghold, has been the scene of frequent Israeli-Palestinian fighting during the past four years of conflict.
bq. Militants spearheading a four-year-old uprising have used a network of secret tunnels to bring in arms from Egypt.
bq. Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim said Egyptian security forces had recently stepped up efforts to prevent arms smuggling on their side of the border.
The ABC News article is about the Israeli tank crew that fired on and killed three Egyptian Police officers at the border. An interesting story in itself...
Posted by DaveH at November 18, 2004 11:59 AM