CAIRO, May 15 (Aswat Masriya) – An Egyptian conscript was killed and a police officer injured on Sunday after an explosive device went off during a security patrol in North Sinai’s Arish, Egypt’s interior ministry said in a statement.

Militancy inside Egypt has seen a significant surge since the military ouster of former president Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July 2013 following mass protests against his rule. North Sinai has been at the epicenter of this insurgency. 

The Islamic State group’s affiliate in North Sinai, known as Sinai Province, has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in the area. 

The Egyptian armed forces, in collaboration with the interior ministry, have launched wide security campaigns to fight the insurgency in Sinai.

According to multiple separate statements by the armed forces, Egyptian security forces have killed hundreds of militants in the border province over the past two years.

Militancy has also crawled gradually into other parts of the country, including the capital.

Sisi issued a presidential decree earlier this month to extend the state of emergency in North Sinai for three more months.

Sisi had declared the state of emergency and a curfew in the border province for an initial three months in October 2014, in reaction to a militant attack that killed 33 security personnel, and has extended it several times since.