Nov 11, 2009, 14:20 GMT
Al-Arish, Egypt - Fifteen policemen were injured in clashes with Bedouin near Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, police told the German Press Agency dpa.
The clashes came after police confiscated a storeroom full of supplies, including many tonnes of cement, the police said were bound for the Gaza Strip through smuggling tunnels under the divided town of Rafah.
A police colonel was among those injured in a small village near Rafah when a crowd of Bedouin surrounded the police as they were leaving with the confiscated goods, police told dpa.
Police reinforcements and local Bedouin tribal leaders arrived at the scene soon after and established order.
A lucrative smuggling trade in basic commodities, drugs, weapons and livestock has taken root along the Egyptian-Gazan border since Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2007.
Egypt periodically opens the border at Rafah to allow through humanitarian supplies, as well as students and medical patients.
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