Four security personnel killed in Egypt attacks

Cairo: Two Egyptian policemen and two soldiers were killed and four others were injured in two separate bomb attacks in the restive North Sinai region.

A roadside bomb went off when a police vehicle carrying security forces passed by early yesterday in Rafah, killing two policemen and injuring four others, security sources said.

In a separate attack in Sheikh Zuwaid city in North Sinai, an army officer and a conscript were killed in a bomb attack which targeted their vehicle, the sources added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility by any terrorist group. At the same time, militants torched two houses of two policemen in North Sinai without any casualties, the sources said.

North Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled former dictator Hosni Mubarak.

The attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by the military following massive protests against his rule.

Over 700 security personnel have been reported killed since then.