Bomb in Egypt’s North Sinai kills five soldiers

A bomb targeting an armoured military vehicle killed five soldiers and wounded three others in Egypt’s North Sinai on Sunday, security sources said, a region beset by Islamist militant violence.

A Twitter feed which describes itself as the official account for Sinai Province, a militant group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Egypt’s military was not available for comment.

North Sinai is the epicentre of an insurgency that has killed hundreds of members of the security services since mid-2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi after mass protests against his rule. Sisi was overwhelmingly elected president last year.

The bomb exploded south of the town of Sheikh Zuweid, the source said, adding that two of the men killed were officers.

Sinai Province, previously known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, has claimed other deadly attacks on soldiers in the Sinai.

It renamed itself last year after swearing allegiance to Islamic State, the ultra-radical Sunni militant group that has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, drawing US-led air strikes.