A damaged car is seen in front of the collapsed building in Garden City area in downtown Cairo on March 25, 2017. Photo: Mohamed El-Shahed / AFP

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 Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist movement, following mass protests against his rule in mid-2013.

The revolt, mounted by Islamic State's Egyptian branch, has killed hundreds of soldiers and police. Militants have also started to attack Western targets within the country.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former military chief who led Mursi's overthrow, describes Islamist militancy as an existential threat to Egypt, an ally of the United States.

On Thursday, 10 soldiers were killed in the Sinai peninsula when their vehicles were hit by two improvised bombs during an operation in which 15 suspected militants were also killed, the army said. Two policemen were killed near al-Arish in a separate incident, the interior ministry said.</s>CAIRO (Reuters) - Four Egyptian soldiers were killed in an explosion that hit their armored 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.

The revolt, mounted by Islamic State’s Egyptian branch, has killed hundreds of soldiers and police. Militants have also started to attack Western targets within the country.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former military chief who led Mursi’s overthrow, describes Islamist militancy as an existential threat to Egypt, an ally of the United States.

On Thursday, 10 soldiers were killed in the Sinai peninsula when their vehicles were hit by two improvised bombs during an operation in which 15 suspected militants were also killed, the army said. Two policemen were killed near al-Arish in a separate incident, the interior ministry said.</s>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>Jihadists in Egypt have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and cracked down on his supporters (AFP Photo/MOHAMED EL-SHAHED)

Cairo (AFP) - Ten Egyptian soldiers were killed in two roadside bombings as they clashed with Islamic State group jihadists in the Sinai Peninsula, the military said on Thursday.

Fifteen jihadists were also killed in the fighting, the military said in a statement, without saying when the incidents took place.

The military said the clashes broke out when soldiers raided "an extremely dangerous" jihadist hideout.

The Islamic State group had said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon that it blew up two army vehicles during clashes south of the Sinai city of El-Arish.

The jihadists have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and cracked down on his supporters.

The attacks have mostly been confined to Sinai, which borders Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, but the jihadists have also struck elsewhere.

In October 2015, the group claimed responsibility for bombing a Russian airliner carrying holidaymakers from a south Sinai resort, killing all 224 people on board.</s>EL-ARISH, Egypt — A pair of attacks by suspected Islamic militants on Saturday killed four policemen and injured six others in the turbulent north of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, according to security officials, bringing to 16 the number of policemen and soldiers known to have been slain in the area in three days.

They said three policemen were killed when their armored vehicle hit a roadside bomb south of Sinai's coastal city of el-Arish. Six more policemen were injured in that attack.

Later on Saturday, a policeman manning a checkpoint also south of el-Arish was killed by a sniper's bullet, they said.

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

The attacks 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. Attacks by militants grew deadlier and more frequent after the 2013 ouster of an Islamist president whose one year in office proved divisive. Mohammed Morsi was ousted by the military, then led by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, following a wave of massive street protests against his one-year rule.</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>The attack came at the eve of an investment conference in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, 340 km (210 miles) south of al-Arish, that Egypt hopes will project an image of stability and attract billions of dollars.

Gunmen attacked the army checkpoint at al-Mahajer area south of Arish late on Thursday evening, before fleeing the scene, the sources said. The wounded were moved to a military hospital in the city.

The attacks were concentrated in North Sinai, epicentre of an insurgency by militants seeking to topple the Cairo government.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But Islamist militants based in Sinai have killed hundreds of soldiers and police since the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013 following mass protests against his rule.

On Tuesday, A suicide bomber killed a civilian and wounded 30 policemen when he tried to ram a water tanker into a police barracks in al-Arish, security sources said. In a second assault, a roadside bomb exploded near a security checkpoint in southern Arish, killing one army officer and wounding three others.

Sinai, a largely lawless area bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip, is home to Egypt's most dangerous Islamist group, Sinai Province.

Formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, the group has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, the ultra-hardline Sunni group which controls large parts of Iraq and Syria.</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>Gunmen stopped an ambulance carrying two wounded soldiers south of the provincial capital of Al-Arish, the sources told Reuters.

The gunmen shot and wounded the paramedic and took the ambulance and one of the soldiers, the sources said.

The body of the abducted soldier was later found about 30km (20 miles) down the road near Sheikh Zuweid, they added.

Egypt faces a Sinai-based insurgency that has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

Authorities this week executed six members of Sinai Province, the country's most active militant group.

Sinai Province changed its name from Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis after pledging allegiance to Islamic State, the ultra-hardline Sunni group that has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria.

Separately, two women were earlier killed when a stray shell fell on their home in Sheikh Zuweid, the security sources said.</s>The attack was carried out two days after ten members of Egyptian security forces were killed in a blast during a counterterrorism raid in Sinai.

Egypt has been fighting a jihadist insurgency in northern Sinai since the army overthrew then President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Police and security forces have been the target of deadly attacks by Islamists in the area.

In 2014, militants in Sinai pledged allegiance to the Daesh group, which is outlawed in many countries including Russia. The Wilayat Sinai, the Daesh branch in Sinai, has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly attacks in the area.

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A roadside bomb kills four Egyptian Army soldiers near the town of Arish, North Sinai Governorate.