The attack was carried out in the remote village of Sadr El-Heytan in the center of North Sinai Province early on Wednesday.

It was not clear whether the casualties were civilians or security personnel.

The checkpoint, in the middle of the peninsula, was manned by soldiers and police, officials said.

Elsewhere in the peninsula, a police base came under mortar fire, medics said.

Near the north Sinai border town of Rafah, militants shelled a police base with mortar rounds and fired truck-mounted heavy machine gun, and attacked another police checkpoint in the town of El-Arish, some 45 kilometers (27 miles) west of Rafah.

After recent attacks on military forces, the armed forces’ command alerted all units in the Sinai Peninsula and in Suez, in the northeast of the country. The military declared Sinai “a zone of war on terror.”

The violence has risen since last week's overthrow of elected President Mohamed Morsi by the military.

NTJ/BA