Fifteen tonnes of a material used to make explosives have been seized in a town straddling the Suez Canal, the Egyptian army said on Wednesday, one of the biggest such hauls since the start of a campaign against Islamist militants in the nearby Sinai.
Five tonnes of the material were seized in a truck in al-Qantara East on the eastern bank of the canal, leading to a second seizure of 10 tonnes of the same material held in storage at an undisclosed location in al-Qantara West, on the opposite bank.
In a short statement, the army said the truck was being driven by two men from the town of El-Arish, which borders the Palestinian Gaza Strip at the eastern edge of the Sinai Peninsula. The army gave no further details.
