Train (illustration)
Train (illustration)Thinkstock

Two Egyptian policemen were killed after a bomb exploded inside a train carriage north of Cairo on Wednesday night, police officials said, according to Al Jazeera.

The policemen had been inspecting the rudimentary bomb after the train, in the Menufiya province north of Cairo, stopped at a station when the explosive went off, the officials said.

The bomb exploded as police evacuated passengers from the carriage, also wounding eight people, state television reported.

The bombing is the latest in a series of attacks that have hit Egypt over the past year, since the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi.

Most of these attacks have occurred in the restive Sinai Peninsula, but some have taken place in other parts of Egypt as well.

The majority of the attacks have been claimed by the jihadist Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis, which has killed hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police over the last year.

Among the attacks claimed by the group since the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi was the assassination of a top Egyptian police general, who was gunned down as he left his home in a west Cairo neighborhood, and a bus bombing on a tour bus filled with South Korean tourists in the Sinai. 

On Monday, it was reported that Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS), but the group rejected the report the next day.