Egypt’s military said Wednesday its troops foiled a suicide car bomb attack targeting an army outpost on a highway between Cairo and the canal city of Suez.

Egypt's military said Wednesday its troops foiled a suicide car bomb attack targeting an army outpost on a highway between Cairo and the canal city of Suez.

The Egyptian affiliate of the ISIL 'jihadist' organization known as the "Sinai Province" claimed the attack on a Twitter account affiliated to the group.

A suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden vehicle attempted to strike the outpost on a highway leading to Suez, the military spokesman said on his Facebook page.

He said the explosives-laden vehicle was destroyed and its driver killed.

The spokesman said the bomber tried to drive  through a checkpoint and ignored warning shots, prompting soldiers to open fire, blowing up the vehicle.

"There were no losses among troops, and preliminary inspection shows that about half a ton of TNT" was used, he added.

'Jihadists' led by ISIL have stepped up attacks targeting security forces since the army's ouster of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi in July 2013.

Most of their attacks have been in the restive Sinai Peninsula, but deadly attacks have also been carried out in Cairo and other cities.

On Saturday, a car bomb attack struck the Italian consulate in Cairo killing a passer-by and wounding nine others, in the first against a foreign mission since Mursi's ouster.

That attack came days after a car bomb attack in Cairo killed the country's top state prosecutor.