CAIRO
By Hagar al-Dosoki
The death toll from a car bombing that targeted a bus carrying soldiers in Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula on Wednesday has risen to 12, a security source said.
Earlier Wednesday, army spokesman Ahmed Ali said that a booby-trapped car had targeted a bus carrying soldiers heading home on leave at 7:45am local time as it passed through the Shalaq area of Sheikh Zuweid, leaving ten dead and 35 injured.
Two of the injured later succumbed to their wounds, the source said, adding that a shadowy Sinai-based jihadist group known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis could be behind the attack.
Earlier in the day, the group claimed responsibility for the assassination on Sunday of a senior Egyptian police officer.
The same group has already claimed responsibility for several previous attacks, including a failed attempt on the life of Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim in September and an October attack on a Military Intelligence building in Ismailia.
The attack is the deadliest to be seen on the volatile peninsula since August 19, when 25 soldiers were killed in an attack on their bus in the border city of Rafah.
Egypt's Sinai Peninsula has seen a surge in violence against security personnel since the military ousted elected president Mohamed Morsi on July 3.
Scores of policemen and soldiers have been killed in dozens of recent attacks, especially in the peninsula's volatile northeastern quadrant, which shares borders with both Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Most attacks have gone unclaimed, but Egypt's military-backed authorities usually point the finger at Islamist "militants."
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