Three army officers and a soldier were killed in an explosion in Egypt's Western Desert on Wednesday (May 31st) after a clash with militants, AFP reported.
The incident comes days after "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIS) militants gunned down 29 Christians in an attack south-west of the capital.
The army said airstrikes hit "terrorists" who had been detected in the Western Desert, destroying two of their vehicles.
When land forces combed the area, an explosives vest went off as the officers "dealt" with items left behind by the militants, killing the three officers and the conscript.
The incident took place near the town of al-Bawiti, east of the site of Friday's attack on the Christians who had been on their way to a monastery.
That attack prompted Egypt to launch airstrikes on extremist camps in Libya.
