The roadside bomb in Sinai Peninsula also wounded four other soldiers.

Insecurity continues to heighten in Egypt with the recent case being a roadside bomb explosion next to an armoured vehicle guarding a gas pipeline in the north of Sinai on October 19, killing seven soldiers and wounding four others, The Jordan Times reported.

Security sources indicate that a series of militant attacks on  security forces have been rife in the area, citing the killing of 17 policemen in two bombings last September,  as well as the killing of two other policemen in the North Sinai provincial capital, El Arish on October 19.

The attacks have been claimed by Ansar Beit Al Maqdis, the most active militant group in Egypt. The group has expressed support for Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria, although it has not formally pledged its allegiance, The Jordan Times said. The militants, The Jordan Times further reported, say they target policemen and soldiers to avenge a bloody police crackdown on Islamists after President Morsi's overthrow, which killed hundreds in street clashes and imprisoned thousands.

President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has reportedly pledged to eradicate the militants. The military says it has killed at least Ansar Beit Al Maqdis least 22 militants in October, including their local commander. The group itself has acknowledged the arrest or deaths of its cadres, but so far the army has been unable to quell the militants despite a massive operation in which it has deployed attack helicopters and tanks.

Ansar Beit Al Maqdis means “Partisans of Jerusalem” in English. The group was formed after the 2011 uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak and ushered in a period of lawlessness, especially in the sparsely populated Sinai Peninsula. They initially focused their attacks on Israel.