Army officer killed in failed attempt to defuse bomb in Egypt's Sinai

An Egyptian military officer was killed while defusing an explosive device on Thursday in the Egyptian province of North Sinai, home to Islamist militants, official security sources said.

The device was planted in Qabr Omeer district, south of Sheikh Zuweid city, to target army forces scheduled to pass through that area, the source told Xinhua.

The body of 28-year-old Sergeant Major Hany el-Beltagy was later transferred to Arish Military Hospital, the source added.

Egypt's military forces have been battling an insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula since the ouster of the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July, 2013.

So far, hundreds of police officers and soldiers were killed by militant groups in their retaliatory attacks against a government crackdown on Morsi's supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands jailed.

An al Qaida-inspired Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group claimed most of the attacks against police and the army in the Peninsula.

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has changed its name to Ansar after pledging allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group, which has since announced Sinai a province of the IS.

Recently, the militants have turned to the killing of police officers and civilians as a new tactic to create fear and panic in the country.

Late Wednesday, bodies of four civilians, three of them beheaded, were found in the southern Sheikh Zuweid city. That has brought the number of the murdered civilians to 11 in a week, another security source told Xinhua.

He added that the bodies of three beheaded civilians, ranging from the age of 25 to 38, showed that they were tortured and severely burned, while the fourth one was shot dead. Endit