Deadly attack in Sinai as militants target Egyptian army

A car bomb set off by suspected jihadists has killed 26 Egyptian soldiers at an army checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (C) chairs a meeting with the National Defense Council in Sheikh Zuweid, North Sinai on October 24, 2014.

A car bomb in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula has killed at least 26 soldiers, in one of the deadliest attacks on security forces since the army deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last year.

Security officials said 28 other soldiers were wounded in Friday's attack in an agricultural region near El-Arish, the main town in north Sinai.

Jihadists in the peninsula have killed scores of policemen and soldiers since Morsi's overthrow to avenge a bloody police crackdown on his supporters.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief who toppled Morsi and later won elections, has pledged to eradicate the militants.

After Friday's attack, Sisi summoned a meeting of the national defence council - the country's highest security body - to discuss the killings, his office said.

Security officials said the car bomb attack targeted an army checkpoint and was carried out by suspected jihadists.

"Most of the wounded have been seriously injured," health ministry official Tareq Khater told AFP.

It was the latest in a string of bloody attacks against security forces in Egypt.

In August 2013, just weeks after the army ousted Morsi, 25 soldiers were killed in the Sinai when gunmen opened fire at two buses transporting troops with automatic rifles and rocket launchers.

In July this year, 22 border guards were killed in the western desert near the border with Libya.

Militants killed 17 policemen in two bombings in the Sinai later the same month and released footage of the attacks.

Those bombings were claimed by Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, the most active militant group in Egypt.

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis tried to assassinate the interior minister in Cairo last year with a car bomb.

The group has expressed support for Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in Iraq and Syria, although it has not formally pledged its allegiance.

The military has said it killed at least 22 militants in October, including an Ansar Beit al-Maqdis commander.