At least 13 people have been killed in separate bomb attacks in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, security forces have said.

At least six people died and 30 others were injured in an explosion outside a police station in El-Arish.

Elsewhere, seven soldiers lost their lives and two were wounded in an attack on an armoured vehicle, near the northern town of Sheikh Zuweid.

Militants from the Sinai Province group, affiliated to Islamic State, have said they carried out the attacks.

A statement on a Twitter page attributed to the group read: “An armoured personnel carrier for the army of the apostates was destroyed… killing and wounding all aboard.”

Sinai has become increasingly lawless since Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011. Insurgents have intensified attacks since his Islamist successor Mohammed Morsi was ousted in 2013.

North Sinai has been under a state of emergency and a curfew since October, when an attack on a checkpoint killed dozens of soldiers.

Major military operations in the region have so far failed to quell the violence.