Suicide bomber kills 10 Egypt troops in latest attack to hit volatile Sinai Peninsula

CAIRO -- A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into one of two buses carrying off-duty soldiers in Egypt's turbulent region of northern Sinai, killing 10 and wounding 35, security and military officials said.

They said the suicide bomber struck when the two buses traveled on the road between the border town of Rafah and the coastal city of el-Arish. The explosion damaged both buses, officials said.

The soldiers belong to the 2nd Field Army, which is doing most of the fighting against Islamic militant waging an insurgency against security forces in Sinai. The buses were on their way to Cairo, the officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to release the information.

The northern Sinai region, which borders Gaza and Israel, has been restless for years, but attacks have grown more frequent and deadlier since the July ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

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There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's attack, but suicide car bombings are a signature method by militant groups linked to or inspired by al Qaeda. It was the latest in a series of similar attacks targeting army and police facilities and checkpoints. In August, gunmen pulled 25 police conscripts off minibuses in the Sinai and shot them dead on the side of the main road linking Rafah to el-Arish.

Northern Sinai's violence occasionally has spilled over into cities in the southern part of the peninsula as well as mainland Egypt, targeting policemen, soldiers and politicians. In September, the Interior Minister, who is in charge of the police, survived an assassination attempt by a suicide car bomb.

A terror group based in the Sinai Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attack on the interior minister. Ansar Bayt al Maqdes had previously only attacked targets in Sinai and Israel. The blast in central Cairo was Egypt's first suicide bombing, and a worrying departure from the group’s normal targets.

Earlier this week, a senior security officer who monitors Islamist groups, including Moris's Muslim Brotherhood, was shot dead as he drove in Cairo's eastern Nasr City district.

Nasr City is a Brotherhood stronghold and home to several military barracks.

Morsi, along with the group's top leaders, are in detention and face trials on charges that vary from murder and inciting murder to conspiring with foreign powers and corruption.

Supporters of the former president have staged near-daily protests against the July 3 coup, mostly in universities. The number of protesters, however, has been dwindling, although they occasionally mass several thousand.