More than 25 people were wounded in the attack in the al-Kharouba area northwest of al-Arish, near the border with the Gaza Strip, the sources said. Medical sources said they expected the number of casualties to increase because some of the wounded were in critical condition. The attack targeted two armoured vehicles stopped at a checkpoint near an army installation, the sources said.
Security officials gave conflicting accounts, with one Sinai-based official saying the attack was not a car bomb but was instead a rocket-propelled grenade operation. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called for the National Defence Council to convene for an emergency meeting in response to what his office called “a terrorist attack”.
Security forces face a Islamist insurgency that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last year after mass protests against his rule. Most attacks have been in Sinai.
Six soldiers were killed on Sunday by a roadside bomb southwest of al-Arish.
Egypt’s military had made some progress in containing the Sinai-based insurgency but security officials have expressed concern that Islamic State militants who control parts of Iraq and Syria have forged ties with radical Islamist groups in Egypt.
(REUTERS)
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