3 dead in Sinai bus attack

At least three people were killed and 17 wounded in Egypt's North Sinai province on Monday when suspected militants used rocket-propelled grenades to attack a bus carrying workers employed at a cement factory, security and medical sources said.

They said the bus was fired on in the city of El Arish, at the centre of a sharp rise in Islamist militant attacks in the lawless region bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip since Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi was ousted by the military on July 3.

According to eye witnesses, the attackers shouted "Allahu akbar!" (God is greatest) after the bus was hit.

Hardline Islamist groups based in North Sinai have intensified attacks on police and soldiers over the past two years, exploiting a security and political vacuum following the 2011 uprising that ousted autocratic President Hosni Mubarak.

The violence has spiked again since Mursi's overthrow, and militants have attacked security checkpoints and other targets on an almost da