2 killed in suicide car bombing in Egypt's Sinai

A suicide car bombing killed a woman and her child Friday in Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula, the army said in a statement.

The bomb went off in the North Sinai's town of Rafah, bordering Gaza Strip, where the army troops combed the area in a sweeping campaign against terrorist elements, military spokesman Mohamed Samir said. There were no army casualties, he added.

Four civilians were also wounded during the explosion, as the suicide bomber was targeting an approaching military convey, an official security source in Sinai told Xinhua on conditions of anonymity.

Egypt has been suffering a surge of anti-security militant attacks after the ouster of the Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by the army, in response to mass protests against his rule.

Most of the attacks, which have killed hundreds of army and policemen, were claimed by Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group, which has changed its name to "Sinai State" and declared allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) militant group last year.

In response, the army has launched wide-scale operation to uproot the militants' hideouts in the Peninsula since 2013.

A massive anti-terrorism operation launched by the Egyptian security forces in North Sinai has killed at least 134 militants in four days since Monday.

Continuous massive military operations in the peninsula have killed hundreds of militants as part of the country's "war against terrorism," the army said. Endit