World Bulletin/News Desk

At least five policemen and four alleged smugglers were killed on Tuesday in a shootout near a northern Egyptian town after security forces tried to stop a vehicle suspected of carrying weapons and explosives, security sources said.

The attack happened in the Mediterranean province of Marsa Matrouh, about 175 km (110 miles) west of the city of Alexandria, in a coastal area popular with beachgoers.

Security officials say militants pay smugglers to transport weapons, including machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, to comrades in Egypt.

The security sources said the smugglers had opened fire on police after being stopped at a checkpoint, and that the security forces had returned fire. They said the death toll could still rise.

The source and destination of the vehicle were not immediately clear, as the attack occurred about 400 km east of the Libyan border.

Last month, gunmen killed 21 Egyptian border guards near the frontier with Libya.