Car bomb in Sinai kills at least 10 Egyptian police
Dozens wounded in blast targeting bus near el-Arish in restive peninsula
CAIRO — A car bomb on Wednesday tore through a bus carrying off-duty army soldiers in the turbulent region of northern Sinai, killing 10 and wounding 20, security officials said.
Reuters, also citing a security official, put the number of injured at 35.
The officials said the car bomb struck the bus on the road between the border town of Rafah and the coastal city of el-Arish. The soldiers belong to the 2nd Field Army, which is doing most of the fighting against militant Islamists waging an insurgency against security forces in Sinai. The bus was on its way to Cairo, the officials said.
The officials earlier said that the bus was carrying policemen in plainclothes, but later said they were soldiers. Confusion about the identity of victims in such attacks is common.
They spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorized to release the information publicly.
Egypt’s police and army forces have been battling a burgeoning insurgency in the strategic Sinai Peninsula since the July 3 military coup that toppled Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
On Tuesday, protesters marked the two-year anniversary of a six-day battle between anti-government demonstrators and security forces that left 41 people dead in 2011. One person was killed and 51 injured during Tuesday’s clashes near Tahrir Square between forces and protesters opposed to both the military and the Muslim Brotherhood, according to Egyptian news site al-Ahram.