A senior official said the attack, carried out by unknown gunmen on Sunday, hit the military post and a nearby compound of residential buildings in El-Arish.

Those killed included a soldier and seven civilians. Nearly 20 people were also injured in the assault.

Since the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013, gunmen have launched almost daily attacks on the peninsula, killing members of security forces.

Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, was toppled in a military coup led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt’s current president and the then army commander.

Following the ouster, Sisi announced his candidacy for the nation’s presidency and was sworn in as president after winning an election in which less that 50 percent of eligible voters participated.

Sisi is accused of leading the suppression of Muslim Brotherhood supporters as hundreds of them have been killed in clashes with the Egyptian security forces over the last year.

Rights groups say the army’s crackdown on the supporters of Morsi has left over 1,400 people dead and 22,000 arrested, while some 200 people have been sentenced to death in mass trials.

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