国际英语新闻:Death toll of Egypt's Sinai blast rises to 7 including 4 police

CAIRO, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The death toll of Tuesday's suicide bombing at a hotel in Egypt's North Sinai's city of Arish rose to seven people including four policemen, two judges and a civilian, official MENA news agency reported.

"More than ten people were injured in attack," MENA quoted a security source as saying.

Earlier on Tuesday, a car bomb targeted a hotel in Arish hosting judges monitoring the ongoing parliamentary elections whose second and final stage was concluded Monday.

"The security forces tasked with protecting the hotel tried to prevent a car bomb from reaching the hotel and deal with its riders, which led them to blow it up outside the security cordon in front of the hotel," the Interior Ministry said in a statement earlier in the day.

The statement added that during fire exchange with a suicide bomber to prevent him from entering the hotel, he blew himself up, which led to the deadly result.

"Two judges, three police officers, five police recruits and two civilians were wounded and taken to hospital for treatment," the statement went on, noting the two suicide bombers died.

Egypt concluded on Monday evening the second phase of its first parliamentary elections under President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

Egypt's military spokesman said that the terrorist attack at Swiss Inn Hotel in Arish was a desperate attempt to impede the country's completion of its plan to rebuild its institutions.

The Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM) militant group, which has changed its name to "Sinai State" and vowed loyalty to the regional Islamic State (IS) militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack in its statement.

The group, which also claimed responsibility for late October's Russian plane crash in Egypt's Sinai that killed all 224 on board, said Tuesday's attacks came in revenge for the imprisonment of female Muslims by the Egyptian army.

In May, the Sinai-based group killed three Egyptian judges and critically injured three others in a shooting attack also in Arish, which is a major city of restive North Sinai province.

Tuesday's terrorist attacks have drew regional and international condemnation amid world concerns over growing terrorist groups, particularly the IS that also claimed responsibility for the recent attacks in Paris that killed at least 129.

Spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry Roman Nadal said his country condemned the terrorist attack and expressed Paris' support to Egyptian people and government in their battle against terrorism.

Kuwaiti Emir Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah also sent a condolence cable to President Sisi over the victims of Arish terror attacks.

Egypt has been going through anti-government attacks that have left hundreds of police and army personnel dead since the military ousted former Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests. Most of the anti-state attacks were claimed by Sinai's IS branch.

Meanwhile, the security forces have been launching massive anti-terror operations in North Sinai that left hundreds of militants killed and a similar number of suspects arrested.