Terrorist attacks in North Sinai intensified in 2013 following the removal of elected President Mohamed Morsi in a military coup.

Two children, aged three and 13, were killed over the weekend in an explosion in a Bedouin town in Egypt’s once-restive northeastern North Sinai province, almost 12 years after the country’s war on militant groups had erupted.

A local security source told The New Arab that five other children and a young man, mostly from the same family, were injured in the incident that took place on the site in Sheikh Zuweid, near the border with the besieged Palestinian Gaza Strip.

“A landmine went off in a field where victims were playing believed to be among the remnants of war on terrorism in Sinai,” added the source on condition of anonymity for not being authorised to brief the media.

It remains unclear, however, how and when the landmine was planted at the site as security forces began combing the area for other explosives.

Earlier in March, US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Egyptian UK-based Sinai Foundation for Human Rights jointly accused Egypt of reportedly cutting “questionable” amnesty deals with fighters belonging to Wilayat Sinai, the Islamic State’s local franchise in North Sinai during the war on terror.

The insurgency in North Sinai intensified in 2013 following the removal of elected President Mohamed Morsi in a military coup led by current Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Though there is no official death toll, hundreds of security personnel, civilians, and militants have been killed during armed confrontations over the years as the conflict. The unrest in Sinai had largely taken place out of public view, with journalists and outside observers barred from the area.