An improvised explosives device (IED) killed a policeman on Monday in North Sinai's Sheikh Zuweid as parliamentary polls opened in the troubled governorate for the second and final day of voting.

The IED exploded while a patrol vehicle was passing through Abu-Taweel area. Two conscripts were also injured.

North Sinai and the capital Cairo, as well as 11 other governorates, are casting their ballots in the second phase of the parliamentary elections.

The rest of the Egyptian governorates, 14 in total, voted in the first leg of the elections in October.

Sunday, the first day in the polling in North Sinai, passed without any major incidents.

A presidential decree on Saturday stipulated that the curfew in some parts of North Sinai, imposed in October 2014 but shortened in the summer of 2015, would be reduced on Sunday and Monday to start at 11pm instead of 7pm to make it easier for locals to vote.

The decree also stated that the reduction in curfew would be also applied during election runoffs on 1 and 2 December.

On 24 October a parliamentary candidate of the Salafist Nour Party, the only Islamist group running for parliament, was shot dead while leaving his house in the North Sinai city of El-Arish.

The Egyptian army has been battling an Islamist militant insurgency in parts of the North Sinai governorate for several years.

Also in October, the Egyptian Armed Forces spokesperson announced that Egypt's army had gained full control over the North Sinai areas of El-Arish, Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid after successful raids on "terrorist strongholds" and weapons caches.

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