World Bulletin / News Desk

A roadside bomb exploded as a police vehicle passed in the north of Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula, but no casualties were reported, a security source said.

The vehicle was passing on Al-Masaeed road in Arish, the capital of North Sinai province, when the bomb went off, the source said, noting that the blast did not leave any damage.

A state of alert was declared in the area immediately after the blast, the source added.

Egypt's Sinai Peninsula has seen an uptick in violence against police and army personnel since the July 3 ouster of Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely-elected president, by Egypt's military.

Within recent months, scores of police officers and soldiers have been killed in dozens of militant attacks, especially in the peninsula's volatile northeastern quadrant.