Four killed, two wounded, in a tunnel explosion at the Gaza-Egypt border

Wednesday September 24, 2008 01:21 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported on Tuesday at night that Palestinian medics recovered the bodies of four residents, who were killed in an explosion that took place on Tuesday evening in a tunnel at the Gaza-Egypt border. At least one was wounded and was moved to a local hospital n Rafah.

Tunnel Gaza - Archive Photo

The sources stated that the bodies of Mustafa Saleh Al Najjar, 19, Omar Fayez Barghout, 21, Ahmad Abdul-Latif Al Najjar, an a fourth unidentified body were located under the rubble, and that one wounded resident was also evacuated from the scene.

The explosion took place in a tunnel in Al Brazil area, on the borders with Egypt in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

According to the Palestinian Information Center, run by Hamas, Egyptian security forces detonated the tunnel while five residents were in it. The forces most likely did not know residents were in the tunnel.

The center added that the Egyptian security forces are digging on their side in an attempt to locate any resident who are stuck under the rubble.

The number of Palestinians who died in tunnel accidents since the beginning of this year arrived to 33 and dozens of residents were wounded.

On September 18, two Palestinians were killed and three others were wounded after a tunnel they were digging at the Egyptian-Gaza border collapsed on them.

Reuters reported that several residents in the area said that the tunnel was meant to be used for bringing food and goods into the Gaza Strip.

 Israeli officials maintain that all tunnels are meant to be used for smuggling arms and ammunition from Egypt into Gaza.

29 Palestinians were killed and 34 were wounded in tunnel accidents since the beginning of this year. Resident Kamal Ahmad Al Imam, 35, died in a tunnel collapse in Rafah on Monday at night on September 22.

rafah | miscellaneous | news report saed at imemc dot org