7 injured as gunmen set upon army post in Sinai

Gunmen attacked an Egyptian army camp near Rafah, on the border with the Gaza Strip, late Tuesday, wounding six soldiers and a civilian.

Officials say unidentified militants attacked the barracks late Tuesday with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. Loud explosions and gunfire could be heard in the area.

A stray bullet wounded a 50-year-old woman in the Egyptian city of Rafah.

Two military officers and four soldiers were also wounded in the nighttime attack. Officials say they were treated at the outpost out of fears that an ambulance transporting them would be targeted. Officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak to media.

Sinai has been the most lawless corner of Egypt since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in early 2011. Since the military deposed the Islamist president Mohammed Morsi on July 3, militant groups have lashed out with increased violence. The peninsula has seen several recent attacks, assassination attempts and kidnappings. In the past two weeks, at least eight Egyptian security officers have been killed in battles with gunmen, the most recent on Friday.

On Monday, Israel approved Cairo’s request to allow two more infantry battalions into the Sinai region.

The new forces will join a large number of Egyptian troops already operating in the area, carrying out a major crackdown on terrorist activity, in an agreed departure from the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace agreement.

The additional forces mean that Egypt now has 11 infantry battalions deployed in the Sinai, as well as a tank battalion and assault helicopters — all emplaced with Israel’s formal approval, as required by the treaty.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.