Gunmen in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, a hotbed of militant activity, killed three policemen and a soldier on Monday while shooting dead a civilian in another attack, officials said.

Gunmen in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, a hotbed of militant activity, killed three policemen and a soldier on Monday while shooting dead a civilian in another attack, officials said.

Masked attackers shot three policemen guarding a police station in the North Sinai town of El-Arish before fleeing, a security official said.

Later, unidentified assailants in a car fired at an armored military vehicle in the south of the town, killing a soldier before fleeing, said the same source.

In the Sheikh Zuwayed area, near the border with the Gaza Strip, gunmen opened fire near a checkpoint, killing a civilian, another official said.

Militants in Sinai intensified their campaign against security forces after the military ousted Islamist president Mohammad Mursi on July 3.