DHAKA: At least 10 soldiers were killed and 27 injured in a car bomb in al-Kharouba area northwest of al-Arish in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Friday.

The security sources said the bomb was blasted targeting two armored vehicles stopped at a checkpoint, reports the Jerusalem Post.

Eyewitnesses had earlier heard a loud explosion in the afternoon in what appeared to be an attack on a nearby army installation.

Earlier, masked men set fire to two cars belonging to the consulate of Saudi Arabia in the Egyptian city of Suez in the morning, local security sources reported.

Major General Tareq al-Gazar, director of security in the city, said authorities were working to identify the attackers.

The Saudi embassy in Cairo declined to comment.

Security forces face a jihadist insurgency that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the army toppled President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood last year after mass protests against his rule. Most attacks have been in Sinai.

BDST: 2140 HRS, OCT 24, 2014