Egypt hunts gunmen who raided Israel border in Sinai

The Egyptian military has vowed to hunt down those responsible for an attack on a checkpoint that killed 16 policemen on its border with Israel.

Israel said it killed eight of the attackers after they captured two army vehicles and tried to break through the border.

Both Israeli and Egyptian officials have blamed the attack on Islamist militants.

Egypt has declared three days of mourning for the dead officers.

"The armed forces consider the group that carried out [Sunday's] attack as enemies of the nation who must be dealt with by force," the country's military said in a statement.

Patrols have been stepped up in the Northern Sinai, and Egypt's Rafah border crossing to Gaza has been indefinitely closed as security forces hunt the remaining attackers.

The army statement said 35 gunmen had taken part in the attack, suggesting dozens may still be at large.

The raid comes amid growing fears that jihadists have gained a foothold in the thinly populated area.

President Mohammed Mursi and army chief Mohammed Hussein Tantawi visited the region on Monday.

At an emergency meeting with military and security officials early on Monday, President Mursi condemned the "cowardly" attack and said the security forces would "take full control" of the Sinai peninsula.

The raid happened at about 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT) on Sunday, when the sun was setting and the guards had stopped work for the traditional iftar meal, which breaks the daily fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Masked gunmen dressed as Bedouin nomads opened fire on the border post, near the Rafah crossing, with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, killing 16 soldiers and border guards and wounding another seven.

The gunmen then commandeered two armoured vehicles, using the first to blast through the border fence at the Kerem Shalom crossing, while another crossed the border before being destroyed by the Israeli air force.

The aim was to target Israeli civilians, according to Israeli officials.

Defence Minister Barak said a major attack had been averted, and called the incident a wake-up call for Egypt.

Visiting the Kerem Shalom crossing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was saddened by the deaths of the Egyptian policemen, but added that the incident showed Israel had to rely on its own forces to ensure its security.

Egypt's state news agency quoted a top security official who said the gunmen were "jihadists" who had infiltrated from the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army had been prepared for such an incident and had stepped up patrols along the border with Gaza, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Brig-Gen Yoav Mordechai was quoted as saying.

Israeli officials believe a brand of radical Islamism is spreading among the tribesmen of the northern Sinai.

Islamist militants have been blamed for several rocket attacks against Israel and a cross-border raid that killed eight Israelis last year.

The rising violence in the area is a test of credibility for the government of President Mursi, the BBC's Kevin Connolly says.

Israel wants tighter security in the Sinai, but it does not want that to be achieved with a large increase in numbers of Egyptian troops near its border, our correspondent adds.

Egypt's military sent extra tanks and troops into the Sinai last year, under terms that had to be agreed with Israel under the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries.