2 Egyptian cops slain by smugglers

(MENAFN- Arab News) ISMAILIA: Two Egyptian police recruits were killed on Thursday after exchanging fire with smugglers at a border post in the volatile Northern Sinai region the Interior Ministry said.
Last month Egypt extended by three months a state of emergency imposed on Northern Sinai in October after militants stepped up attacks in the remote but strategic peninsula bordering Israel Gaza and the Suez Canal.
The two policemen were shot dead 'after exchanging fire with smugglers at the 10th border post in the village of Matalah in Rafah' the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier security sources said that unidentified gunmen in a car shot dead the two policemen who were guarding the gate of a police camp in the city of Rafah.