CAIRO — Egyptian security forces foiled an attack on Friday on a checkpoint in the south Sinai resort region, shooting dead two attackers, one of whom wore an explosive belt, the interior ministry said.

“Security forces prevented the attack exchanging gunfire ... which led to the deaths of two perpetrators” at the checkpoint in Oyoun Moussa, said a ministry statement.

“One of them wore an explosive belt with the intention to target the checkpoint ... bomb experts defused the device,” it added.

Egyptian security forces have been targeted by extremist groups since the army overthrew President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Most insurgent attacks have been concentrated in the restive northern province of the Sinai, to the east of the country.

In contrast, southern Sinai, the site of Friday’s thwarted attack, is a major tourist hub boasting several resort towns by the Red Sea.

Egypt in February last year launched a large-scale military operation against Daesh (the so-called IS) in the Sinai Peninsula.

Around 600 suspected militants and about 40 soldiers have been killed so far, according to official figures.

Friday’s attack came days after a teen suicide bomber killed four Egyptian security forces in North Sinai. — AFP