CAIRO: A policeman and an officer were killed in restive North Sinai’s Arish after a car bomb was detonated Saturday evening, according to a statement from the Ministry of Interior.
Unknown assailants planted a bomb inside a parked car that exploded when a convoy of police passed by, the statement added.
The security forces have combed the area to catch the perpetrators, and the injured have been transported to a hospital.
No group has yet announced its responsibility for the attack.
The bomb coincides with start of the first round of the 2015 parliamentary elections of Egypt in 14 governorates. A total of 27 million eligible voters will cast their ballots to elect the long-awaited House of the Representatives.
Voting in North Sinai is scheduled in the second round that will start on Nov. 22 and 23.
Three days ago, a police recruit and a civilian were killed and six policemen injured in a roadside bomb that rocked the North Sinai’s town of Arish.
The Sinai-based militant group Wilayat Sinai (Sinai Province,) formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM,) has claimed responsibility for several attacks on security forces mainly in Sinai. In 2014, the group pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS) group.
Egypt has witnessed a significant rise in militancy since the military-backed ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 following mass protests against his rule. According to the Interior Ministry, militant attacks have killed more than 500 security personnel since then.