Three Palestinian gunmen were killed by the Egyptian military when they tried to enter Sinai through a smuggling tunnel in the border town of Rafah, security officials told AFP on Wednesday.
The sources said the "armed Palestinians" clashed with military personnel on the Gaza border after the gunmen infiltrated the town through a passageway used to smuggle fuel and food supplies.
Egypt's army has cracked down on smuggling tunnels in the past few months and said it has destroyed hundreds of them since Mohammed Morsi's ousting in 2013. Cairo accuses Gaza's governing body Hamas of using the tunnels to aid extremists who regularly launch attacks in Sinai.
Despite the extra security measures, Daesh (ISIS) has continued to launch attacks on the peninsula. In October, 30 soldiers were killed in North Sinai, pushing the army to expand the buffer zone between Gaza and Sinai.
