1 Dead, 35 Hurt in Car Bombing near Egypt Police Building

A car bomb exploded near an Egyptian police building on Thursday in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya, killing one policeman and wounding 35 other people, security officials said.

The bombing was followed by gunshots, the officials said, as witnesses said the noise of the blast was huge and that several ambulances rushed to the scene.

The interior ministry gave a casualty toll of one policeman killed and 18 people wounded, including six civilians.

Ismailiya and surrounding areas in the Sinai have seen regular militant attacks on police and military personnel, especially since the military toppled Islamist president Mohammed Morsi on July 3.

An al-Qaida-inspired group operating in the Sinai Peninsula, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, has claimed several of these attacks, including a car bombing outside a military building in Ismailiya on October 19 that wounded six soldiers.

The group had also claimed a car bombing in September that targeted the convoy of Egypt's interior minister Mohammed Ibrahim in Cairo. He was not hurt in that attack.

The military has been conducting an extensive operation in the Sinai Peninsula, east of the Suez Canal, to track down Islamist militants.