CAIRO, Dec 6 (Aswat Masriya) - An army conscript was injured on Saturday when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off at a security checkpoint on the Arish-Rafah international road in North Sinai, a security source said.

The 22-year-old conscript suffered deep wounds to his face. The IED was planted by unidentified assailants near a checkpoint in Sadout area along the international road, the source, who preferred to remain anonymous, added.

The conscript was transferred in critical condition to the Rafah Military Hospital for treatment.

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.