A police conscript was killed and four others injured on Sunday when a roadside bomb detonated on a highway in North Sinai's provincial capital of El-Arish, the interior ministry said.

The explosive device, which was planted on a coastal highway in El-Arish,  went off as a security patrol passed by, killing a conscript and wounding four others, the ministry said in a statement

The victims were transferred to El-Arish Military Hospital as security forces scanned the area in search for the perpetrators.

The Egyptian army has been fighting against an Islamist militant insurgency in parts of North Sinai for several years.

The ISIS-affiliated militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for most attacks against security forces in North Sinai.