El-Arish - Egyptian security officials say a roadside bomb planted by suspected Islamic militants has hit a police armoured vehicle in the north of the Sinai peninsula, killing three members of the security forces.

They say the Saturday blast south of the city of el-Arish injured six other policemen.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

The attack came two days after Sinai militants killed 10 army soldiers and two policemen in Sinai.

Northern Sinai, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip, has long been home to an insurgency by militants, now led by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group. The insurgency expanded and grew deadlier after the 2013 ouster of an Islamist president whose one year in office proved divisive. </s> CAIRO - Four Egyptian soldiers were killed in an explosion that hit their armoured vehicle on Saturday in the northern Sinai peninsula, where the government is battling an Islamic State-led insurgency, security sources said. The incident occurred about 20 km (12 miles) south of the Mediterranean town of al-Arish.

An insurgency in Egypt's rugged Sinai region has gained pace since the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist movement, following mass protests against his rule in mid-2013. </s> A truck-bomb attack on a checkpoint in the city of El-Arish in Egypt's northern Sinai has killed at least seven policemen and one civilian, according to security officials and medical sources.

Police officials said a suicide bomber drove the truck packed with explosives into El-Matafe checkpoint and armed men then opened fire on the security post on Monday.

Egypt's interior ministry said in a statement that security forces were able to "fight off" the attack, killing five assailants and wounding three others.

Six policemen and six civilians were also wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the truck bombing, but an armed movement in the rugged and thinly populated Sinai Peninsula has gained pace since the military toppled President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in mid-2013.

Since then, hundreds of police officers and soldiers have been killed in attacks.

In November, a car bomb attack on a checkpoint in Sinai killed eight soldiers.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group's Egyptian branch in the Sinai Peninsula has also carried out several such attacks over the past two years.

The Sinai Peninsula borders Israel and Palestine's Gaza Strip. </s> Police in Egypt set off a controlled explosion of a bomb-rigged car in the town of El-Arish in north of the restive Sinai peninsula. ― Reuters picCAIRO, Jan 9 ― A truck bomb attack on an Egyptian security checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula killed at least eight policemen today, officials and state media said.

Police officials said a suicide bomber rammed a truck packed with explosives into the checkpoint in the north Sinai city of El-Arish and gunmen then opened fire on the security post.

The Islamic State group’s Egyptian branch in the Sinai Peninsula has carried out several such attacks over the past two years.

Eight people were also wounded in the attack, state newspaper Al-Ahram reported on its website.

Jihadists have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi, which unleashed a bloody crackdown on his supporters.

Most of the attacks have taken place in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

In November, a car bomb attack on a checkpoint in Sinai killed eight soldiers. ― AFP </s> EL-ARISH, Egypt — Egyptian security officials say two separate attacks have killed three police conscripts and an officer in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula.

The officials said Wednesday that the first attack took place in the city of el-Arish when an explosive device targeted an armoured vehicle, killing a police officer and two conscripts.

Another explosive device hit an armoured vehicle in the town of Rafah, killing a conscript and wounding four others.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group.

The attacks came a day after an IS suicide bomber killed four policemen and three civilians, including a child, in the northern Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid. </s> A roadside bomb killed an army officer and a non-commissioned officer while they were on patrol near the town of Sheikh Zuweid, the sources said. Ten soldiers were also wounded in that attack.

In a separate incident, a policeman was killed in a drive-by shooting near a camp for security forces in al-Arish, the main city in North Sinai, the sources said. The gunmen fled the scene.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks.

Militants based in North Sinai have killed hundreds of soldiers and police since the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013 following mass protests against his rule. Blasts have also occurred across the country in the past two years.

Sinai is home to Egypt's most dangerous Islamist group, Sinai Province. Formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, the organisation has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, the ultra-hardline Sunni group that controls large parts of Iraq and Syria. </s> At least eight members of security forces killed in an attack on a police checkpoint in El-Arish.

A truck bomb attack on a checkpoint in the city of El-Arish in Egypt's northern Sinai has killed at least eight policemen, security officials and medical sources said.

Police officials said a suicide bomber rammed the truck packed with explosives into the checkpoint and gunmen then opened fire on the security post on Monday.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the truck bombing.

But an armed movement in the rugged and thinly populated Sinai Peninsula has gained pace since the military toppled President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule.

Since then, hundreds of police officers and soldiers have been killed by armed groups.

In November, a car bomb attack on a checkpoint in Sinai killed eight soldiers.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group's Egyptian branch in the Sinai Peninsula has also carried out several such attacks over the past two years. </s> EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Militants attacked three police checkpoints in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula late Tuesday, killing at least six policemen and wounding eight other officers, security officials said.

The officials said at least four militants were killed, including a suicide bomber who set off his explosives at one of the checkpoints attacked in the coastal city of al-Arish late Tuesday. The officials agreed to provide the details only if not quoted by name because they were not authorized to brief the media.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, although they bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group.

Egypt's government has been battling Islamist militants centered in northern Sinai. The insurgency intensified after the military ousted an elected but divisive Islamist president amid mass protests in 2013. </s> EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) - Suspected militants on Monday ambushed a police convoy in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing five policemen and wounding three others, including a police brigadier-general, according to security and military officials.

The police and military officials said the attack began with the detonation of roadside bombs that destroyed and set ablaze three armored vehicles and a fourth one carrying signal jamming equipment. The gunmen later opened fire with machine guns and commandeered a police pickup truck.

The attack took place about 30 kilometers (20 miles) west of el-Arish in northern Sinai, the epicenter of a long-running insurgency by militants now led by the extremist Islamic State group.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
A roadside bomb kills four Egyptian Army soldiers near the town of Arish, North Sinai Governorate.