A bomb explosion in Egypt’s troubled Sinai Peninsula has left at least 18 soldiers wounded.

The incident happened on Sunday morning when a vehicle carrying the Egyptian troops hit a roadside bomb in the Kholafaa area of the city of el-Arish in North Sinai Province, Egyp’s al-Youm al-Sabea daily reported.

Medical sources at el-Arish military hospital said they have received the wounded soldiers for treatment, adding that their injuries are not fatal.

No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing but it bears the hallmark of militants affiliated to the Takfiri ISIL terrorist group.

Sinai emergency state

The new attack came as Egypt has extended by three months a state of emergency in the north of the Sinai Peninsula amid surging violence fueled by militants in the volatile region.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab announced the decision in a written decree on Saturday, saying the measure will start on Sunday in the town of Sheikh Zuweid as well as the cities of Rafah and el-Arish along with their surrounding areas, which are all situated in the North Sinai province.

The measure also extends a night-time curfew in the aforesaid places, the Egyptian premier added.

A state of emergency was first declared in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula on October 24, when a militant attack on an Egyptian army checkpoint left over 30 soldiers dead, and was extended for two three-month periods in January and April.

A local terror group calling itself Velayat Sinai (Sinai Province) claimed responsibility for the deadly Sinai assault. The group was previously known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis.

Egypt’s army has been fighting surging militancy in the troubled region since the former army chief and current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ousted the North African country’s first democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi, in a military coup in July 2013.

The army says that it has killed more than 1,000 militants in Sinai over the past two years.

Velayat Sinai, which pledged allegiance to ISIL in November 2014, has been behind many of the attacks that have killed many Egyptian police officers, soldiers and judiciary officials as well as civilians over the past months.