(Source: Xinhua)

CAIRO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least two soldiers were killed and other four wounded Saturday in a bomb explosion in the Egyptian restive North Sinai province, an official security source said.

A military armored vehicle has been hit by an explosive device in North Sinai city of Sheikh Zuweid, the source told Xinhua.

The attack took place while the security forces were combing the suspected strongholds of Islamist militants in the two cities of Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah, he added.

The death toll may increase as the wounded soldiers are in serious conditions.

Egypt witnessed growing wave of attacks by militants, based mainly in North Sinai, in revenge to the security crackdown of the supporters of the army-led ouster of Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Anti-security attacks have left hundreds of police and army men killed, with a Sinai-based Islamic State affiliate group claiming responsibility for most of them.

The armed forces in coordination of the police have intensified lately wide-scale operations to uproot the militants' hideouts, killing nearly 100 jihadists on Oct. 15, in retaliation to the killing of 20 soldiers in the same day.