CAIRO, Feb 10 (Aswat Masriya) - A conscript was injured in North Sinai's town of Sheikh Zuweid on Tuesday after unidentified gunmen shot at him, security and medical sources said.

The conscript was on duty at a Sheikh Zuweid checkpoint at the time of the attack, the sources said. The gunmen tried to prevent the ambulance from transporting him to the hospital, opening fire at the ambulance before fleeing, police sources told Aswat Masriya.

Militancy has surged in Egypt since the military ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013, following mass protests against his rule. The Sinai Peninsula was the most heavily affected by the rise in militancy, although attacks have taken place in other parts of the country, including Cairo.

In the deadliest attack since October, at least 30 people were killed and 50 others were injured on January 29 in four separate attacks against security forces in the governorate. 

Egypt's most active militant group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, claimed responsibility for the January attack, as well as October's attack. The group changed its name to Sinai Province after pledging allegiance to Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq last November.