Cairo, Egypt:
Smugglers armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades killed 15 Egyptian border guards near the frontier with Libya on Saturday, security officials said, highlighting a growing security challenge for authorities who believe Islamist militants move weapons across the area.
The attack took place in Wadi al-Gadid governorate, which borders both Sudan and Libya. Local media said three smugglers were killed in clashes with the guards.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has repeatedly expressed concerns that militants who have capitalised on the chaos in Libya and set up operations along the border pose a threat to the Cairo government.
Security officials say militants based in camps over the Libyan border pay smugglers to transport weapons, including machineguns, to comrades in Egypt, which is facing an Islamist insurgency based in the Sinai Peninsula near Israel.
© Thomson Reuters 2014