In the early hours of Sunday, police captain Abdallah Khalil Abdel-Gawad was shot dead in front of his house by unknown assailants in the North Sinai town of Al-Arish, the interior ministry said in a statement.

On Saturday, two conscripts were killed and two others injured when a roadside IED (improvised explosive device) detonated next to their vehicle in North Sinai's Rafah, a security source told Ahram Arabic website.

The assailants in both attacks are still at large.

Egypt's army has been fighting a decade-long insurgency in parts of North Sinai, which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of militants and security forces.