EL-ARISH, Egypt — Gunmen shot and killed two senior Egyptian officers in the country’s volatile Sinai Peninsula where the military has been trying to quell a spreading insurgency by Islamic militants, a security official said.

The attackers opened fire on the officers’ vehicle near the peninsula’s northern city of el-Arish, sprayed it with bullets and then fled the scene, the official said.

The attack came a day after the military said it killed three militants in Sinai, including the brother of the purported leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group called Ansar Beit al-Maqdis.

A statement Thursday on the official Facebook page of the military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Samir, said the Egyptian troops blew up a vehicle packed with weapons, killing three suspected militants who were inside.

Military officials later identified one of the killed as Khaled el-Manaei, the brother of Shadi el-Manaei, the purported leader of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis