CAIRO: Egypt’s Ministry of Interior says gunmen have killed a senior police officer in the restive Sinai peninsula.

The ministry said in a statement that Brig. Gen. Ahmed Mohammed Askar was killed late Saturday when militants opened fire on him in the northern Sinai city of El-Arish.

The ministry statement says security forces have cordoned off the area in an attempt to capture the perpetrators of the attack.

A claim of responsibility by the Daesh branch in Egypt, known as Sinai Province, is circulating on social media accounts of supporters.

Meanwhile, a small bomb blast in a busy western district of Cairo wounded a policeman and a passerby on Sunday.

Egypt is battling militants, including members of a Daesh affiliate, who have largely targeted troops in Sinai since 2013.