Sinai Peninsula rocket kills 9-year old child

A nine-year old girl was killed on Monday when a rocket hit the ground outside a house in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, in an apparent attack targeting soldiers, security officials said.Another girl, 10, was wounded in the blast south of the town of Sheikh Zuwaid in northern Sinai.

The rocket was apparently targeting a security patrol that was passing through the area, security officials said.

Soldiers and police have been combing the area - the military says it has killed dozens of militants in north Sinai in several operations in the past week.

On Monday, seven militants were killed in north Sinai, including three who were shot dead by security forces, according to the Egyptian army.

It did not say how the other four militants were killed but said they were killed when they attempted to attack a resident in the border town of Rafah.

Five other militants were wounded in the Rafah incident.

Militant attacks usually target security forces, but have also led to civilian casualties.

Four children were killed on Saturday in the northern Sinai town of al-Joura, believed to be a bastion of the militants who have killed scores of police and soldiers over the past year.

The children, all under the age of 15, were killed when a mortar round hit their home in an attack apparently targeting military personnel.

At least seven civilians and a soldier were killed in a rocket attack on 13 July in the north Sinai capital al-Arish.

The strike hit a military post sited near a residential complex, killing the soldier, but also hit a supermarket, a pharmacy and a residential building, according to a security official who spoke to the Associated Press.

Seven civilians were killed, including two children, and 24 were injured.

The military has poured armour and soldiers into the desert region to quell the militants, who have also struck the capital and other mainland cities with car bombs.

Although militant attacks have decreased over the past few months, the military have so far failed to restore complete security to the Sinai Pensinsula, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip.