Egypt eases security measures along Gazborder

ISMAILIA, Egypt, Oct 30 (Reuters) Egypt relaxed security on its border with Gaza today, days after sending thousands of police there following a report Israel might bomb tunnels it said were used to smuggle arms to Palestinians,an official said.

''The number of police was reduced after the Israeli threats receded, the border area was calm and no unnatural movements were observed,'' a border official said, asking not to be named.

The Israeli daily Maariv reported on Friday that precision-guided weapons would be used to penetrate deep underground in hopes of destroying a cross-border tunnel network that the Jewish state says riddles the Gaza-Egypt border area.

That report and fears that militants could try to breach the border wall prompted Egypt to move the extra police, typically used for crowd control and armed with batons, to the border on Saturday to reinforce 750 border guards ordinarily in place.

Border officials initially said that 5,000 police had been sent to reinforce the border, but later said that while 5,000 had been sent to northern Sinai, only 2,500 would be on the border at any given time.

An Egyptian presidential spokesman also denied reports that Cairo had sent 5,000 police to the border, but gave no details.

The Egyptian border official declined to say how many police and border guards remained in the border area, but said there were enough to secure it.

Egyptian security and border officials have said that an Israeli operation to bomb suspected tunnels could threaten around 20,000 civilians who live close to the border.

Several Egyptian civilians were killed and many wounded by shrapnel during Israeli attacks on the Palestinian border town of Rafah before Israel's Gaza pullout.

Israel says it has been unable to control weapons smuggling into Gaza since it withdrew from the coastal strip last year.

It says it believes that tonnes of munitions, including advanced shoulder-fired missiles, have been smuggled into Gaza through tunnels, but have little evidence that Gaza militants use such weaponry.

REUTERS PDM RK2135