Roadside bomb wounds 18 police in Egypt’s Sinai

A roadside bomb wounded 18 Egyptian policemen Sunday travelling on a bus in the Sinai Peninsula, where security forces are battling Islamic State group loyalists, security officials said.

The attack happened near the North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish, according to the officials, who said the policemen were on leave.

Health ministry official Tarek Khater said the wounded were in stable condition in a military hospital in the city.

Egyptian security forces have come under frequent attack in North Sinai since the military toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The region is a stronghold of the jihadist group calling itself “Sinai Province”, which in November pledged allegiance to the Islamic State organisation that has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Hundreds of Egyptian police and soldiers have been killed in attacks. The military says it has killed more than 1,000 jihadists in the Sinai.