Hamas holds Egypt responsible for kidnapped members in Sinai

Gunmen have seized four members of the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas from a bus bound for Cairo from the Gaza Strip, an Egyptian security official said on Thursday.

The identity of gunmen, who stopped the bus close to the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Wednesday night, was not immediately clear.

Hamas blamed Egypt for the abductions which it described as a "security coup" that could further strain relations with Cairo.

The Egyptian security official said the four men shot at the bus, forcing it to a halt, before assaulting the driver and kidnapping the Hamas members after checking their identity documents.

The bus was carrying 50 passengers.

Officials said the kidnappers were wearing "Pakistani-type" clothes. Some militants in Sinai dress in tunic-style fatigues that are common in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It was unclear whether the bus had a police escort when the gunmen intercepted it, as Hamas claimed in its statement.

"We urge the Egyptian interior ministry to secure the lives of the kidnapped passengers and free them," Gaza interior ministry spokesman Eyad al-Buzom said.

A source from the Egyptian waiting hall in Rafah said that the bus was only one or two kilometres away from the border crossing.

The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the four men were severely beaten by the gunmen. The bus returned to the waiting hall in Egypt’s Rafah, as Egyptian army troops immediately rushed to the scene and secured the area. The entire kidnapping did not take more than five minutes, the source added.

The road from the Rafah border crossing, which Egypt sporadically opens, runs through the lawless North Sinai where Islamic State group fighters are waging an insurgency.

The incident rattled Gazans who rarely have a chance to leave the coastal strip.

"This event is worrying, because I'm with my children... I'll wait until it's safe to travel," said Rasha al-Qedra, a woman on the Palestinian side of the crossing.

The Islamic State group has threatened Hamas after it arrested militants suspected of targeting its armed wing with a series of bombings.

But Hamas's statement laid the blame on Egypt, saying it had been in touch with Cairo to ensure the return of the abducted men.

"They had entered the crossing after receiving permission from Egyptian security forces, which could have prevented them from entering," said Hamas.

Relations between Hamas and Egypt have deteriorated since the military overthrew former president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, had been sympathetic to Hamas, the Palestinian offshoot of his movement.

His overthrow unleashed a deadly crackdown on MB supporters, and an insurgency based in Sinai.