Clashes have broken out between the Egyptian army and armed militants in Sheikh Zuweid in Sinai just 10km from the Gaza Strip, security sources and eyewitnesses said on Friday. The gunmen used heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades in attacks on a police station and several army checkpoints in the town, which in the northern Egyptian peninsula. Witnesses said armoured vehicles caught fire, although this was not confirmed by the security source. Ambulances were unable to reach the site of the clashes, which were ongoing at 1915 hrs BST.