Bombs kill two, injures dozens in North Sinai

Two people were killed and 47 others wounded on Tuesday in two separate suicide bombings in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, medical and security officials have said.

A suicide bomber blew himself up near an army checkpoint south of the provincial capital Arish, killing himself and a police officer and injuring three policemen, a security source, requesting anonymity, told The Anadolu Agency. Two civilians were also injured, authorities said. 

The bombing came only hours after a similar one struck a security site in the town of al-Arish.

According to Health Ministry official Tareq Khater, one civilian was killed in the bombing along with the bomber. A further 42 army conscripts were also injured. 

Commenting on the first bombing, Interior Ministry spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif told AA that an unidentified militants had attempted to drive an explosives-laden car through a security barrier outside a dormitory for police conscripts at a camp for Egypt's Central Security Forces.

According to Abdel-Latif, the bomber detonated his explosive device after security forces intercepted the vehicle.

"Most injuries were caused by shattering glass from the dormitory windows," Abdel-Latif said.

The Interior Ministry said the vehicle used in the attack was a water tank truck that had earlier been reported stolen.

Police opened fire on the water tanker which exploded before it could get into the barracks, the interior ministry said. 

"The security forces were on alert and repelled the (vehicle) by firing at it without hesitation, which led to its explosion and the death of its driver," the interior ministry said in a statement.

Thus far, no groups have claimed responsibility for either attack but the blasts were only the latest in a long line to rock the restive peninsula. 

On Sunday, the Egyptian army said 70 militants had been killed and 118 others detained since the beginning of March in ongoing military operations in the Sinai. 

Egypt has cracked down on militants in Sinai – which shares borders with both Israel and the Gaza Strip – amid a rise in armed attacks on security personnel since the 2013 ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi by the army.