CAIRO (Sputnik) – The device was set off in the North Sinai governorate capital of Arish when a patrol car was passing by with the officers inside.
Extremist attacks on law enforcement in the volatile region are a near-daily occurrence. Last month alone, at least 10 police officers and soldiers, including two generals, have been killed in attacks claimed by the Wilayat Sinai militant group.
Massive blast rocks police station area in #Egypt's restive Sinai, 2 killed, many injured http://t.co/BOBwTAa8zy pic.twitter.com/zuQbMQHzxE
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) October 14, 2015
North Sinai is a stronghold of Wilayat Sinai, an Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State jihadist group operating in Iraq and Syria.
Cairo is fighting an Islamist insurgency in Sinai since the army, led by President Abdel Fattah Sisi, overthrew Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Over 200 militants were killed in the operation codenamed Martyr's Right, launched earlier in September, according to the Egyptian Defense Ministry estimates.