Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis ISrael mossad beheading
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis gunmen beheaded four Egyptians accused of spying for Israel. Youtube

A blast has struck a convoy in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula slaughtering at least 11 Egyptian border police officers.

The soldiers were travelling through the village of Wefaq, near the Gaza border, when the bomb detonated, allegedly from a remote control. Two of them were killed instantly by the bomb and the others were shot dead as they tried to flee.

Islamist militants in the Sinai have targeted Egyptian policemen and soldiers since the then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted democratically elected president Mohammed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, in the July 2013 coup d'etat.

Several jihadists belonging to the main Islamist group in the area, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, have been shot dead in security operations.

Last week, the group released a video showing the beheading of four men they accused of working for Israeli intelligence and said it carried out the execution in retaliation for a July airstrike that killed three of its fighters.

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Champions of Jerusalem) has been operating in the restive Sinai Peninsula since the Arab Spring uprising against Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The group is also known to have carried out attacks against Israel. Since former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power in Egypt, the country's police and army have been targeted.

According to Egyptian media the three Ansar Beit al-Maqdis fighters killed in July were hit by an Israeli UAV, as they were attempting to fire rockets across the border.

However, Egyptian authorities said they had carried out the strike and denied an Israeli drone had crossed into the country's airspace.

Inspired by al-Qaeda, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis is not known to be affiliated to the Islamic State.