CAIRO, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian police officer was killed on Wednesday in a bomb blast in the North Sinai, official MENA news agency reported.

A police force discovered the explosive charge weighing 50 kg that was planted by unidentified persons, according to MENA.

The bomb went off while security forces were examining it, leaving a police officer dead.

Egypt has been suffering a wave of terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers following the military removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Terror attacks had been centered in restive North Sinai province bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, before spreading to several provinces and starting to target the Coptic minority in the most populous Arab state.

Most of the terrorist operations were claimed by the so-called Wilayat Sinai (Sinai State or Province), a Sinai-based group affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.