CAIRO, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Two police officers died Thursday from wounds suffered in an explosion in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula during a manhunt for suspects involved in bombing attacks.
The interior ministry said in a statement the victims were among a police force combing the rugged mountainous region in the northern Sinai, a hotbed for criminals believed involved in seven bombings that have rocked the peninsula in the past 10 months.
The explosion occurred Wednesday when a military jeep in which the two policemen were riding rolled over two land mines near al-Arish, near the Egyptian-Israeli border.
The statement said two other policemen were injured.
Security sources said the land mines might have been left over from past Arab-Israeli wars but gunmen might have planted them as well.
A security force of more than 4,000 members has been conducting a manhunt for the fourth straight day for suspects involved in the bombings in Sharm el-Sheik and Taba, which claimed more than 100 lives and injured hundreds.
