Six Egyptian military officers died after two suicide car bombs exploded near an intelligence building and security checkpoint in North Sinai on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
Another 10 officers and seven civilians were wounded after the explosion in Rafah, close to the Palestinian Gaza Strip, which has undergone a series of militant attacks ever since the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July.
The state-run Middle East News Agency reported the attacks as suicide car bombings according to Ali Azzazi, head of criminal investigations in North Sinai. The news station also said the walls and main gate of the intelligence center were destroyed.
The bombs come just six days after Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim survived an attack by suspected militants on his convoy in Cairo.
Last week, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis -- a Sinai-based Islamist militant group -- said they were responsible for trying to kill the Interior Minister and warned of revenge for the government's crackdown on the country's Islamists.
According to Bloomberg, a Facebook page for military spokesman Ahmed Mohamed Ali said the blasts had "terrorist elements."
Egyptian security forces began an offensive last week against militants in Sinai in addition to performing a crackdown of the Muslim Brotherhood ever since Morsi's removal from office. The army deployed tanks, armored vehicles, and attack helicopters that killed and wounded around 30 people and arrested nine suspects.
Ziad Akl, senior researcher with Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, suggested the military's crackdown is not an effective strategy.
"The crackdown on Islamists and trying to repress them violently will never stop violence," Akl said. "Violent confrontations will have a very temporary effect, but on the long run they will simply create new forms of violence."
"We're paying the price of how Sinai has been marginalized for decades, which makes it a perfect soil for the rise of insurgency," he added.
