2 dead, 46 hurt in blast at Sinai army post

A suicide bomber and roadside explosives targeting police and military in northeastern Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula kill two and wound 46 early Tuesday, security officials say. In a city south of Cairo, two suspected terrorists died when a bomb they were carrying on a motorbike explodes.

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.

In the first attack, the suicide bomber drove a stolen water tanker packed with explosives to the police compound in el-Arish city. His refusal to slow down at the gate prompted police to fire at the vehicle, setting off the explosives inside, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.

A civilian passerby, a driver for the nearby electricity company, was killed. Most of the policemen were wounded by shrapnel.

Later, Interior Ministry spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif said the bomber was trying to reach a nearby hotel where a large number of police officers reside.

Shortly after, an army officer was killed and three soldiers wounded when suspected militants blew up their armored vehicle using roadside explosives a few kilometers (miles) from the site of the first bombing, officials said.

— AP