Five policemen killed in Egypt suicide attack

Five policemen were killed on Sunday in a suicide attack on a police station in Egypt's North Sinai city, a security source in the country's interior ministry said.

Efforts are under way to count the number of the injured in the explosion, the source told state-run MENA news agency.

A pick-up truck, laden with straw, stormed one of the security checkpoints in Police Station 3 in Arish, added the source.

Xinhua news agency, citing security sources, said at least 15 people were critically injured and admitted to a nearby hospital.

The sources said many are feared dead in the attack as all attempts to contact the policemen at the police station have failed.

The attack has also caused damage to neighbouring houses.

Rescue workers and firefighters have rushed to the scene, while police officers sealed off the street where the attack happened.

The bombing came a few hours after five army soldiers were killed in a blast in the North Sinai city of Sheikh Zuweid.

An armoured vehicle of the army carrying off-duty soldiers from their camp, exploded when it passed over a roadside bomb in a military zone.

Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which has recently pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, claimed responsibility for most of the anti-government attacks in Egypt.

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

The militants claimed the attacks, mainly against the army and the policemen, were in retaliation for the security dispersal of two pro-Morsi sit-ins which left nearly 1,000 people dead.

Earlier this month , at least 15 military men and four civilians were killed and about 40 others injured in a series of armed attacks on several checkpoints in Sheikh Zuweid city.