At least 13 Egyptian policemen were killed by militants yesterday on a checkpoint south of northern Sinai's provincial capital of el-Arish, said Egyptian Interior Ministry.
"A mortar round was fired at the Safa checkpoint... which resulted in the martyrdom of 13 policemen," Dawn quoted the statement issued by the ministry as saying.
According to reports, a statement has been circulated on the social media that a Sinai-based Islamic State affiliate has claimed responsibility for the attack but the authenticity of the statement has not been verified.
It said that a suicide bomber, identified by the nom de guerre 'Abu Al-Qaaqaa the Egyptian' blew up a car packed with explosives at the checkpoint.
Egyptian security forces have been targeted by the local IS affiliate in Sinai who had claimed the downing of a Russian airliner last October.
Following the attack, Russia suspended all flights to Egypt and it lost hundreds of millions of dollars in tourism revenues since.