A roadside bomb on Thursday killed four Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula, where the army is battling Islamic State group loyalists, the military said.

The Islamic State group's affiliate in Egypt claimed responsibility for the bombing, in a statement posted on one of its Twitter accounts.

One officer and three soldiers died in the attack on their vehicle near the border town of Rafah, a military spokesman said on Facebook.

The attack came a few days after seven soldiers died in a jihadist attack on a checkpoint.

Militants loyal to the Islamic State group have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The military says it has killed more than 1,000 militants in Sinai, which borders Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.