Ambush on army bus kills one soldier in Egypt’s Sinai

Heavily-armed gunmen have attacked an Egyptian military bus carrying security personnel in the troubled restive Sinai Peninsula, killing at least one soldier and injuring several others.

Three soldiers were also injured in the attack that targeted army soldiers in the city of El-Arish on Sunday.

The gunmen fled after clashing with soldiers while the wounded, who are reported to be in critical condition, were transferred to a regional hospital.

A group calling itself Ansar Beit al-Maqdes has vowed to step up attacks against the Egyptian army over reports of a military plan to build a security fence around restive al-Arish.

The group has claimed responsibility for attacks that mainly targeted soldiers and policemen.

Violence in the volatile Sinai region has intensified since Egypt’s first democratically-elected president Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the military in early July 2013.

Militant groups and criminals have exploited a security vacuum that developed in the Sinai since the 2011 uprising against the country’s former dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Occasionally, tribal Bedouins in the increasingly lawless peninsula would briefly kidnap foreigners to use them as bargaining chips with authorities, urging them to release imprisoned relatives.

In August 2012, at least 15 Egyptian policemen were killed in an assault on a police station at the border between Egypt and Israel. It was the deadliest incident in Egypt’s Sinai in decades.

In response, Cairo launched an offensive against terrorists in Sinai, sending thousands of troops backed by tanks and heavy equipment into the region.