(Adds deployment of reinforcements, details) By Yusri Mohamed ISMAILIA, Egypt, April 9 (Reuters) - Egypt sent troop reinforcements to the Sinai peninsula on Wednesday and warned Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad against any attempt to breach its border. Egypt sent about 1,200 of its security forces to the Sinai coastal city of El-Arish near the border with the Gaza Strip, security sources told Reuters, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Egypt dispatched the troops from the capital of Cairo and the eastern Nile Delta province of Ismailia in response to threats from Hamas, the sources said. A Hamas leader said on Tuesday the border, which militants blasted open in January, could soon be breached again. He said an "explosion" was imminent if the frontier remained closed. But Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Wednesday Hamas had simply wanted to alert its neighbours to the crisis. "The Israeli occupation bears full responsibility for the continuation of the siege and we do not threaten our Arab nation," he said. Egypt's foreign ministry told the Islamist groups not to take advantage of "fabricated" domestic problems in Egypt. "Any attempt to violate the sanctity of the Egyptian border by force or to illegally encroach on the border line will be met with the appropriate seriousness and firmness to protect the border and its sanctity," the foreign ministry statement said. Egyptian forces were also deploying along dirt roads leading to the border area and were reinforcing walls along the border, the security sources and eyewitnesses told Reuters. DOMESTIC UNREST The border tensions coincide with riots in Egypt over low wages and rising prices. Two people were killed and more than 110 injured in clashes between Egyptian police and workers on Monday and Tuesday in the Nile Delta. "Efforts to create crises on the Egyptian border coinciding with fabricated problems inside Egypt are a matter that raises doubt and suspicion over the true motives behind the statements of the leaders of Palestinian Islamic groups," the foreign ministry statement said. It did not clarify what internal problems it was referring to. Hundreds of members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood were detained in the run-up to local elections on Tuesday. The border breach in January allowed hundreds of thousands of Gazans to stream across the frontier at Rafah to stock up on food and fuel for 10 days before the frontier was re-sealed. Israel, which controls the Gaza Strip's borders, has restricted the passage of goods and fuel in a bid to maintain pressure on Hamas Islamists opposed to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's peace moves towards the Jewish state. Israeli leaders have said Gazans should not expect to be able to lead normal lives while militant groups in the Hamas-run Strip continue to fire rockets at Israel. But they have promised to avoid a humanitarian crisis. Egypt has been trying to mediate a truce between Israel and Hamas that could include new border crossing arrangements and an easing of the Israeli blockade. (Reporting by Yusri Mohamed) (Writing by Cynthia Johnston and Will Rasmussen; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
Israeli policemen wearing protective gear take part in a drill simulating a chemical attack in the northern city of Haifa April 9, 2008, as part of a five-day nationwide exercise to ...
