Rafah, Egypt - Egyptian security forces arrested 15 people on Friday on charges of making rockets to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip through border tunnels, an Egyptian security source said. He added that authorities confiscated components that could have been used to make rockets in a workshop located in the Sheikh Zuwaid area of the northern part of the Sinai peninsula.

Border tunnels were dug by Palestinians to transfer food supplies, goods and even people from Egypt into the besieged enclave.

Israel, which imposed a blockade on the densely populated enclave ever since the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas took control in June 2007, alleges that the tunnels were also used to smuggle weapons for used against the Israelis.

Last week, Egypt destroyed 10 tunnels that were used to smuggle fuel and diesel under a Cairo operation aimed at securing the borders with Gaza.

Egypt has come under increasing pressure, particularly from Israel and the United States, to crack down on weapons smuggling from the Sinai Peninsula into the salient.(dpa)