Egyptian army forces began on Friday a crackdown on a number of tunnels in North Sinai's Rafah city on the borders with Gaza to destroy these tunnels after a flurry in smuggling operations.

There are instructions to tighten procedures to put an end to trafficking from Rafah to Gaza using tunnels, an army source said. Security forces prevented goods from passing to smugglers in Rafah's Salah al-Din and fired some warning shots, eye witnesses reported.

Security also aborted another attempt to smuggle goods in al-Sarsoureya area which is close to Rafah Crossing, they added. Citizens reported hearing gunshots exchanged between security forces and smugglers but no one was arrested.