2 soldiers killed by roadside bomb in Egypt’s Sinai

An Egyptian security official said on Monday a roadside bomb struck a passing armored vehicle in the northeastern Sinai Peninsula, killing two soldiers.

The official said the explosion took place Tuesday near the village of al-Kharouba, near the border with the Gaza Strip, as army forces were patrolling the area searching for Islamic militants.

Six more soldiers were injured and remain in serious condition, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Northeastern Sinai is a longtime hotbed of Islamic insurgency. The Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks against Egyptian security forces and recently pledged its loyalty to the Islamic State group.

The attack came two weeks after a double attack in which a suicide bomber and roadside explosives targeting police and military in the northeastern Sinai killed two and wounded 46, and in a city south of Cairo, two suspected militants died when a bomb they were carrying on a motorbike exploded.

A day earlier three soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb near a checkpoint close to al-Kharouba as the soldiers’ vehicle passed by. A fourth soldier was left in a serious condition, officials said at the time.

Egypt has battled a burgeoning insurgency in northern Sinai for years but attacks against army and police there have dramatically increased since the 2013 ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. The military has carried out an extensive offensive against militants in the region, declared a state of emergency and a dusk-to-dawn curfew. Authorities also demolished houses near the Gaza border to combat trafficking of arms and jihadists through underground tunnels.