Six Egyptian soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in a bomb attack on their armored vehicle in the Sinai region on Sunday, security officials said.

Six Egyptian soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in a bomb attack on their armored vehicle in the Sinai region on Sunday, security officials said.

Security officials said the roadside bomb was planted in an area of the northern Sinai peninsula that is a stronghold of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

An officer and five soldiers were killed in the bomb attack, which took place in an area close to the town of Sheikh Zuweid, said security officials.

In November, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, the deadliest militant group in Egypt, pledged allegiance to ISIL, which is operating in Syria and Iraq.

The group, which is based in the Sinai Peninsula, has claimed a string of deadly attacks on Egyptian security forces in recent months.

The army has sent troops and armor to fight a dogged insurgency on the peninsula that has grown since then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted his Muslim Brotherhood’s predecessor, Mohammad Mursi, in July 2013.