Soldiers killed in blast in Egypt’s North Sinai

An explosion targeting a military vehicle has killed five Egyptian soldiers near the town of Sheikh Zuweid in North Sinai, Reuters news agency says quoting a security official.

Security officials said on Sunday that the roadside bomb was planted in an area of the northern Sinai peninsula that is a stronghold of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

Egypt has conducted a long-running campaign in the Sinai Peninsula against fighters from the group formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis but who are now fighting under the banner of ISIL.

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis say their attacks targeting security forces are in retaliation for a government crackdown against former President Mohamed Morsi’s supporters that left hundreds dead.

Early in April, a series of ambushes targeting the military killed 15 soldiers and two civilians.

The army said 15 of the attackers were also killed in the clashes.

In January this year, suicide car bombers and attackers killed several dozen soldiers at a military base in El Arish.