CAIRO, Jan 29 (Aswat Masriya) - Twenty five people were killed and 36 others were injured following a string of attacks on North Sinai's town of al-Arish Thursday evening, a security source in North Sinai said.

An army officer was also killed in an attack in North Sinai's border town of Rafah, security sources added, bringing the death toll to 26.

The attack claimed the lives of both civilians and military personnel, Egypt's state television reported, citing a health ministry official.

According to state TV, ten mortars and a carbomb hit the North Sinai security directorate earlier.

An army battalion was also targeted in the carbomb attack.

Egypt's state newspaper al-Ahram's office was reportedly destroyed in the attack, Reuters reported, citing state TV and Ahram.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility of the attack.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared a state of emergency and a curfew in the border governorate last October, in reaction to a militant attack which left over 30 security personnel killed.

It was extended until April 25, the cabinet said in a statement earlier this week.

Militants have stepped up attacks targeting security forces in Egypt, particularly in the Sinai peninsula, since the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013.