Unknown gunmen on Tuesday shot dead a civilian and injured another in the Sinai Peninsula, where the Egyptian army is battling a growing Islamist insurgency, state news agency MENA reported.

The victims of the assault, which took place in the North Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid, were ferried to a local hospital, MENA added.

The mountainous border peninsula has been the scene of an Islamist insurrection that has spiked since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and an ensuing crackdown on his supporters.

Ongoing confrontations between the militants and Egypt's army have also led to civilian casualties.

On Saturday, four people, including three judges, were shot dead in the northern Sinai city of Al-Arish when militants opened fire at their vehicle.

The attack came shortly after an Egyptian court sought the death penalty for former president Mohamed Morsi and over a hundred supporters of his Muslim Brotherhood in connection with a mass jail break in 2011.

Last week, bomb attacks killed four Egyptian soldiers and three civilians in the Peninsula, which borders Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

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