Al-Arish, Egypt  - Families of Egyptian men detained on suspicion of plotting attacks against Egypt on behalf of the Lebanese group Hezbollah have been warned against meeting with rights lawyers, one of the lawyers alleged on Wednesday.

Al-Arish, Egypt - Egyptian security forces discovered half a ton of explosives not far from Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip, police said Monday.

Police found more than 500 kilos of TNT, along with light weapons and remnants from the peninsula's past wars in the dunes less than 40 kilometres from Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip at Rafah, a source in Egypt's security forces told German Press Agency dpa on condition of anonymity.

Al-Arish, Egypt  - One man was killed and another was injured on Friday when a fire broke out in a tunnel used to smuggle petrol from Egypt to the Gaza Strip, a security source told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

The tunnel, which was used to smuggle petrol into the Gaza Strip through plastic pipes, caught fire on Friday morning, the security source said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.