SCAF: Attack on Rafah watchtower foiled

Egyptian army units have foiled an attempt to blow up a manned security watchtower in the border town of Rafah, according to Ahmed Mohamed Ali, spokesperson for the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). He did not specify when the army action had taken place.

In a Wednesday post on his official Facebook page, Ali said plastic explosives were discovered and a telephone device, possibly for use in detonation of the bomb.

In his post, Ali also claimed that Egyptian Armed Forces had demolished an underground storage shaft containing 300,000 liters of diesel, and 14 tunnels used to smuggle goods from Egypt into the Gaza Strip.

In the wake of the July 3 ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi, SCAF has led what it calls a “war on terror” against militant Islamists in the Sinai and stepped up control of the border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Egyptian and Israeli armed forces have been busy beefing-up security around their borders with the Gaza Strip, with both states exerting concerted efforts to crack down on smuggling to the Palestinian territory and strengthen their grip over their respective regions.

On Wednesday, Israeli armed forces announced the completion of the last phase of a security barrier stretching over 230 kilometers along Egypt’s Sinai border, from the Mediterranean town of Rafah to Israel’s Red Sea port of Eilat.

The final, 15-kilometer, phase was reportedly completed in one and half years, while construction of the entire fence took around two and a half years. The security barrier aims at keeping Arab militants, and African migrants and refugees, away from Israel’s borders.