CAIRO (TIP): At least two policemen were killed and 8 others injured in an explosion in Egypt‘s restive Sinai peninsula, official said October 17. The explosion occurred in west Al-Arish city in north Sinai October 16. A bomb planted by unidentified militants along the international road went off, killing two policemen, as a military tank was passing. 8 others were in a critical condition, a medical source said.

North Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled the ex-president Hosni Mubarak. The militant attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi last year. Over 500 security personnel have been reported killed since then. In July, militants attacked a military checkpoint in Al-Wadi Al-Gedid governorate in southern Egypt, killing 21 Egyptian border guards and injured four others.

The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip. At the same time, two home-made bombs exploded yesterday near a famous mosque in Tanta city injuring at least 11 people.