Egypt decided on Saturday to reopen a border crossing with Gaza it had mostly kept closed since a militant attack killed 16 of its soldiers on August 5, the official MENA news agency reported.

It said the Rafah border crossing, the Palestinian territory's only passage which bypasses Israel, would return to opening six days a week, like before the attack.

Egypt allowed only a trickle of Palestinians to use the crossing to enter Gaza after the attack in Sinai.

The attack on an army outpost prompted an unprecedented military campaign in the Sinai peninsula.

PHOTO CAPTION

Egyptian custom officials check passports and identity cards as travelers wait on Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing point on August 10, 2012.

AFP