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At least ten Egyptian soldiers are reported killed and dozens more wounded in a car bomb attack near the North Sinai city of el-Arish.
Al-Masri al-Youm newspaper said a convoy of buses carrying infantry soldiers was hit by a roadside bomb as it moved through the Kharouba area.
The death toll was likely to rise, a security source said.
Attacks on security forces in the Sinai have increased since Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was ousted in July.
No group has admitted carrying out Wednesday’s bombing, but the peninsula has grown increasingly unstable in recent years, triggered by the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.
His overthrow in February 2011 left the northern Sinai prone to groups of jihadists, some with links to the Gaza Strip.
Ten Egyptian soldiers are reported killed and dozens more wounded in a car bomb attack near the North Sinai city of el-Arish
In September security forces launched an offensive against Islamist militants in the Sinai, but have suffered a spate of deadly bombings. In recent months some 100 members of the security forces have been killed.
Wednesday’s attack, which took place at around 07:45 local time on the road from Rafah to el-Arish, is thought to be the bloodiest against the military since Mohamed Morsi was deposed.
Among the 10 who died were six soldiers, three security officers and the driver, the military said.
Another 35 soldiers were wounded in the explosion which was said to have hit one of the two buses in the convoy.
The attack is reported to have targeted Egypt’s Second Field Army, which has been deployed in Sinai and has been involved in an operation to destroy tunnels along Egypt’s border with Gaza.
The soldiers were on their way back to Cairo on leave, reports said. Some of the most seriously wounded victims were being airlifted to hospital in the capital.
At least 24 Egyptian policemen have been killed in an ambush attack in the Sinai peninsula.
Medical sources and officials said the police were in two buses which came under attack from armed men close to the town of Rafah on the Gaza border.
Three policemen were also reported to have been injured in the blast.
The military recently intensified a crackdown against militants in Sinai, where attacks have surged since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Egyptian deployments in the peninsula are subject to the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.
There were conflicting reports about how Monday’s attack unfolded.
Security sources quoted by the Associated Press news agency say four armed men stopped the buses and forced the police to get out before shooting them.
But other reports spoke of rocket-propelled grenades being fired at the buses.
The Rafah border post into Gaza was closed in response to the attack and security increased at checkpoints on the peninsula.
Egypt’s interim, military-backed leaders have declared a state of emergency amid the nationwide unrest which has followed the ousting of Islamist Mohamed Morsi as president on 3 July.
A night-time curfew is in place in the capital, Cairo, and many other provinces.
At least 24 Egyptian policemen have been killed in an ambush attack in the Sinai peninsula
More than 830 people, including 70 police and soldiers, are reported to have been killed since Wednesday, when the army cleared protest camps set up by Mohamed Morsi supporters, many of them members of the Muslim Brotherhood movement.
On Sunday night, 36 Islamists died as they were being transported to a prison outside Cairo.
Government and military officials said they had suffocated in the back of a prison van from the effects of tear gas, which was fired when the prisoners rioted.
But there were other reports of gunfire.
The Brotherhood said the interior ministry had “decided to betray its trust and ignore its role” and had killed the detainees “for their opposition to the bloody military council”.
It said the “heinous crime shows the total disregard of the right to life by these murderous fascist thugs” and raised concerns about the safety of the hundreds of pro-Morsi activists now in detention.
European Union foreign ministers are to hold emergency talks on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Egypt. The date was agreed during preparatory talks by senior diplomats in Brussels on Monday.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and the president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy have said the EU “will urgently review in the coming days its relations with Egypt”.
In a joint statement on Sunday, they expressed regret that international efforts to find a peaceful way forward in Egypt were abandoned and a “course of confrontation” instead pursued.
“The calls for democracy and fundamental freedoms from the Egyptian population cannot be disregarded, much less washed away in blood,” they said.
Mohamed Morsi’s supporters say the removal of Egypt’s first freely elected president was a coup.
However the interim government says the Muslim Brotherhood has carried out a campaign of terror since he was overthrown.
The head of the armed forces, Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, has warned the military will not tolerate unrest.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for Hosni Mubarak has said he expects the former leader to be released from prison within the next two days.
However, the legal situation is unclear.
Hosni Mubarak is facing a retrial for corruption and complicity in the deaths of protesters during the 2011 uprising.
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Egypt’s Bedouin tribal leaders in Sinai peninsula have agreed to help restore security in the lawless border area with the Gaza Strip and Israel.
In talks with Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal al-Din, they also backed plans to destroy smuggling tunnels into Gaza.
The move comes as Egyptian troops mass in the area in an operation to contain Islamist militants who have built up a presence in the area.
The militants are suspected of killing 16 Egyptian border guards on Sunday.
Egypt has deployed extra troops, tanks and other armored vehicles.
Ahmed Gamal al-Din met the tribal leaders late on Thursday night at al-Arish, about 50 km (30 miles) west of the Gaza border, to ask for their support.
He later told reporters: “With the help of the people [of Sinai], the mission will succeed.”
Egypt's Bedouin tribal leaders in Sinai peninsula have agreed to help restore security in the lawless border area with the Gaza Strip and Israel
Sheikh Atef Zayed, a member of Al-Rishad tribe, said all present had pledged to support the military’s operation.
“Egypt’s security is a part of Sinai’s security,” Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.
Another tribal leader, Eid Abu Marzuka, said the tribes had also reached a consensus that the tunnels should be destroyed.
“Let Hamas be upset, we don’t care,” he said, of the Islamist group which control the Gaza Strip.
Eid Abu Marzuka said Israel’s contact with Palestinians in Gaza should be through the official Rafah border crossing.
There are more than 1,200 illegal tunnels along the Egypt-Gaza border. They are used to get basic goods past Israel’s blockade of the enclave but also smuggle in weapons and people.
The militants who launched Sunday’s attacks are believed to have used them as an escape route.
Egypt’s Mena news agency reports that the army has already begun sealing them off.
The latest violence in the Sinai region began on Sunday, when militants carried out the deadliest and most brazen attack against Egyptian troops in the Sinai region for decades, killing 16 border guards.
There were further attacks on checkpoints in al-Arish on Wednesday, which left a number of people wounded.
Egypt launched its military offensive hours later, carrying out missile strikes from helicopters.
According to military officials, 20 people were killed in the village of Touma, while the Sheikh Zuwaid area to the west was also hit.
Further armoured personnel carriers could be seen overnight on Thursday, heading eastwards towards the border region.
Egypt’s military presence in Sinai is limited and requires Israeli approval under the terms of the 1979 peace treaty which returned Sinai to Egyptian control.
Analysts say that the security situation in the area has deteriorated following the fall of Hosni Mubarak last year, and that Islamist extremists appear to have gained a foothold.
Egyptian army helicopters have fired missiles on suspected Islamist militants in Sinai peninsula, security officials say.
Twenty people were reported killed in Touma village, while the Sheikh Zuwaid area to the west was also hit.
The strikes came after security checkpoints were allegedly attacked by gunmen in the town of al-Arish, leaving a number of people injured.
On Sunday, militants killed 16 Egyptian border guards in the area.
After that attack – the deadliest and most brazen against Egyptian troops in this border region for decades – Israeli forces said they killed some of the militants who broke through into Israel.
There has been a heavy military build-up around al-Arish, correspondents report, and Egypt’s Rafah border crossing to Gaza has been indefinitely closed as security forces hunt the remaining attackers.
Egypt is also reported to have begun sealing off the illicit smuggling tunnels into Gaza.
This is the first time Egypt has fired missiles in Sinai since the 1973 war with Israel, when it attempted to recapture the Sinai peninsula, security officials told Associated Press.
Egyptian army helicopters have fired missiles on suspected Islamist militants in Sinai peninsula
Egyptian military presence in Sinai is limited and requires Israeli approval under the terms of the 1979 peace treaty between the nations which returned Sinai to Egyptian control.
Tensions are very high in the area, where Islamic extremists are said to have gained a foothold in recent months, taking advantage of the security vacuum left after former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year.
A Sinai army commander told Reuters news agency the army had received information that there were many militants in Touma.
“We have succeeded in entering Touma, killed 20 terrorists and destroyed three armored cars belonging to terrorists. Operations are still ongoing,” he told Reuters. State television also reported the deaths.
The attacks came hours after three security checkpoints were attacked in the main regional town of al-Arish.
Locals said rounds of gunfire could be heard just before midnight and telephone lines and the Internet were cut off.
At least four people – including police officers and a civilian – were wounded in those attacks.
The Egyptian soldiers killed in Sunday’s attack were buried on Tuesday in a funeral marked by angry calls for vengeance.
Some protesters chanted slogans against the Muslim Brotherhood, and according to witnesses, tried to assault Prime Minister Hisham Qandil.
Both Israeli and Egyptian officials blamed Sunday’s attack on Islamist militants – though Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, the group to which President Mohammed Mursi belongs, accused the Israeli spy agency Mossad of being responsible.
Israel rejected that claim as “nonsense”.
On Tuesday, Israel handed Egypt six “completely charred” bodies it says are some of the militants behind Sunday’s attack on the Egyptian soldiers, a medical official in al-Arish told AFP news agency. The bodies have not yet been identified.
Israel signalled its approval of Egypt’s strikes, with senior defence official Amos Gilad telling Israel Radio on Wednesday that Egypt was determined to “impose order in Sinai because that is their responsibility… If they don’t remove and uproot [the threat], it will continue to strike”.
The rising violence in the area is a test of credibility for the government of President Mohammed Mursi, correspondents say.
Although it is clear that Israel has approved the build-up of troops around al-Arish, Israel has historically been reluctant to see a large increase in Egyptian troops close to its border.
The two American women tourists and their Egyptian guide, who were kidnapped in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, have been released, according to officials.
The tourists had been travelling in a bus from St Catherine’s monastery to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier on Friday when it was stopped by gunmen.
According to officials, the kidnappers were Bedouin tribesmen who had demanded the release of recently arrested relatives.
Bedouins kidnapped 25 Chinese workers in northern Sinai earlier this week, but released them unharmed after a day.
They were demanding the release of fellow tribesman who were jailed after the 2004 bomb attack at the resort of Taba that killed 31 people.
The US tourists were travelling through the Wadi al-Sual area, about 40km (25 miles) from St Catherine’s, when a vehicle carrying masked men armed with machine-guns forced the bus to stop, officials said.
The gunmen took the tourists’ money and valuables before grabbing the two women and their guide, forcing them into a vehicle and fleeing into the mountains, the officials added.
The three other tourists who had been in the bus were left behind. Their nationalities were not immediately known.
Several hours later, security sources told reporters that the American women and their guide had been released into army custody.
Maj. Gen. Mohammed Naguib, the head of security for southern Sinai, told the Associated Press that the kidnappers were Bedouins who had demanded the release of a number of fellow tribesmen arrested this week on drug-trafficking and robbery charges.
They had agreed to free the women after mediation efforts between officials and tribal leaders, Gen Naguib added.
Egyptian Tourism Minister Munir Fakhri Abdul Nour meanwhile said he had spoken to the Americans, and that they had assured him that they were in good health and had not been mistreated.
Bedouin tribesmen in Sinai have been involved in a series of confrontations with security forces in recent months.
A gas pipeline from Egypt to Israel has also repeatedly been sabotaged, though Sinai’s tourist resorts have remained largely secure.
Two American women tourists have been kidnapped by gunmen in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, according to security sources.
The American tourists were travelling in a small bus with three other tourists from St. Catherine’s monastery on Mount Sinai to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh when it was stopped by the gunmen.
One official told the Reuters news agency that the men wanted a ransom.
Bedouins kidnapped 25 Chinese workers in northern Sinai earlier this week, but released them unharmed after a day.
They were demanding the release of fellow tribesman who was jailed after the 2004 bomb attack at the resort of Taba that killed 31 people.
The Americans were reportedly travelling through the Wadi al-Sual area of Sinai, about 40 km (25 miles) from St. Catherine’s, when a vehicle carrying masked men armed with machine-guns forced the bus to stop.
The gunmen took the tourists’ money and valuables before grabbing the two women, forcing them into a vehicle and fleeing into the mountains.
Their Egyptian tour guide was also kidnapped, AFP news agency said.
The three other tourists who had been in the bus were left behind.
Police teams assisted by a military plane are searching for the Americans, state television reported.
One officer believed the kidnappings were meant to pressure the authorities to release Bedouins detained for their role in kidnapping the Chinese workers; others said the motive was financial.
Tribesmen in Sinai have been involved in a series of confrontations with security forces in recent months.
A gas pipeline from Egypt to Israel has also repeatedly been sabotaged, though Sinai’s tourist resorts have remained largely secure.
