NORTH SINAI, Dec 26 (Aswat Masriya) - A military vehicle exploded on a road in southern al-Arish in Sinai early Friday, killing two army personnel and injuring a third, security sources in North Sinai said.

Sources told Aswat Masriya that two military vehicles were combing the area near a security checkpoint when one of them was remotely bombed.

Eye witnesses said the explosion shook the city of Arish, closely followed by heavy gunfire which "terrified" citizens.

Militants have stepped up attacks targeting security forces in Egypt, particularly in the Sinai Peninsula, since the army's ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013, which followed mass protests against his rule.

At least 30 military personnel were killed in a suicide blast which targeted a security checkpoint in Sinai's Sheikh Zuweid on October 24, in the worst militant attack since Mursi's ouster. 

Egypt's most dangerous militant group, the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, claimed responsibility for the attack in a video released on November 14, shortly after pledging allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared a three-month state of emergency and a nighttime curfew in parts of the Sinai Peninsula in response to the attack.