CAIRO
Two people were killed and 45 others wounded in two separate suicide bombings in Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula, medical and security officials have said.
A suicide bomber blew himself up near an army checkpoint south of provincial capital Arish, killing himself and a police officer and injuring three policemen, a security source, requesting anonymity, told The Anadolu Agency.
The bombing came only hours after a similar one that targeted a security site in Arish.
According to Health Ministry official Tareq Khater, the earlier bombing left one civilian dead – as well as the bomber – and 42 army conscripts injured.
Commenting on the first bombing, Interior Ministry spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif told AA earlier that an unidentified militant had attempted to drive an explosives-laden car through a security barrier outside a dormitory for police conscripts at a camp for Egypt's Central Security Forces.
According to Abdel-Latif, the bomber detonated his explosive device after security forces intercepted the vehicle.
"Most injuries were caused by shattering glass from the dormitory windows," Abdel-Latif said.
The Interior Ministry said the vehicle used in the attack was a water tank truck that had earlier been reported stolen.
Eyewitnesses told AA earlier that the bomber had tried to drive his vehicle into a security site in Arish city's Masaaeid district before detonating his bomb.
The bombing caused significant material damage to several buildings adjacent to the camp, they added.
Thus far, no groups have claimed responsibility for either attack.
On Sunday, the Egyptian army said 70 militants had been killed and 118 others detained since the beginning of March in ongoing military operations in the restive peninsula.
Egypt has cracked down on militants in Sinai – which shares borders with both Israel and the Gaza Strip – amid a rise in armed attacks on security personnel since the 2013 ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi by the army.
