Blast kills five army men in Egypt

At least five army men, including an officer, were killed, and four other soldiers were wounded on Sunday in an explosion in the Egyptian province of North Sinai.

The explosion took place when an armoured vehicle carrying off-duty soldiers passed over a roadside bomb in Kharouba village in southern Sheikh Zuweid city, an official source told Xinhua news agency.

Military operations escalated heavily in restive Sinai Peninsula after the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi by the army in response to mass protests against his one-year rule in 2013.

The militants claimed that the attacks, mainly against the army and the policemen, were in retaliation for the harsh security crackdown on Morsi's supporters, which left nearly 1,000 dead and thousands in prisons.

Earlier in April, at least 15 soldiers and four civilians were killed and about 40 others injured in a series of armed attacks on several checkpoints in Sheikh Zuweid city, while security raids killed around 55 militants.

Most of the attacks took place in the restive peninsula, but they extended lately to reach the capital Cairo and other provinces across the country.