2 Egyptian servicemen killed, 6 injured in Sinai blast

A roadside bomb explosion has killed at least one army officer and a soldier in Rafah city in Egypt's northern Sinai Province, Press TV reports.

Security and medical sources in the restive peninsula said on Monday that six other military personnel had been injured in the attack.

Officials added the explosion took place in the Taweel al-Amir area south of Rafah and that the injured were taken to a military hospital in the provincial capital, al-Arish.

Security sources, meantime, said a new major operation had been launched in Sheikh Zuweid city in northern Sinai on Monday targeting militants which had pledged allegiance to the Takfirii terrorist Daesh network.

The city's entrances were closed and several shootouts were taking place between security forces and the suspected militants.

The operation was launched following several explosions in al-Arish on Monday afternoon.

In a separate incident, gunmen opened fire on a police patrol in the Nile Delta province of Beheira, wounding five policemen, local security officials and Egyptian state-run media said.

Monday's developments coincided with a visit by a top army commander to northern Sinai, where he met with Sinai tribal leaders to discuss cooperation with the military in the ongoing fight against Takfiri terrorist militants.

Egypt has been battling militants in northern Sinai for years, but attacks mainly targeting the army and police escalated and spread to the mainland since last year.

Daesh-affiliated militants based in Sinai have claimed a series of large-scale assaults there.

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