Egypt’s military is preparing to start an offensive against militant groups in Sinai who have escalated attacks since President Mohamed Mursi’s ouster, targeting a civil bus on Monday.

Egypt's military is preparing to start an offensive against militant groups in Sinai who have escalated attacks since President Mohamed Mursi's ouster, targeting a civilian bus on Monday.

 

 

 

A senior military official stressed that the Egyptian army will carry out operations in Sinai.

"The army will try to avoid all kinds of friction with the civilians while executing the mission because the militants hide with their families," he added. 

Militants attacked Monday at dawn a bus carrying workers in the North Sinai town of Al-Arish, killing at least three people and wounding 17 others.

Military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Aly said in a statement that a "terrorist group" had been targeting a police vehicle but hit the workers' bus by mistake.

"The bus was attacked with a rocket-propelled grenade near Al-Arish airport. Three people died and 17 were injured in the attack," a security official said.

A medical source confirmed the toll, adding that "many of those injuries are critical." The bus was carrying workers from a cement factory.

The restive Sinai Peninsula has been hit by a surge of violence since president Mohammad Mursi's ouster on July 3, with militants killing a police officer early on Friday.

A Coptic Christian man found decapitated a day earlier, while two people died in an attack on a checkpoint in the peninsula on Wednesday.