An Egyptian affiliate of the jihadist Islamic State group claimed responsibility Thursday for an attack that killed a colonel and three soldiers in North Sinai, where it is spearheading a deadly insurgency.

Wednesday's bombing in North Sinai's provincial capital of El-Arish targeted the troops' armored vehicle when it was engaged in a search operation, security officials and emergency services said.

Egypt's prosecution has filed an appeal against a decision to free ousted president Hosni Mubarak's sons on time served after they were handed jail terms for corruption, a judicial official said Wednesday.

A court in October ordered Alaa Mubarak and Gamal Mubarak to be released after having taken into account the time spent in jail since their detention in 2011.

An Egyptian court jailed Tuesday a female writer for three years for insulting Islam after she criticized the slaughter of animals during a major religious festival, a judicial official said.

Fatima Naoot went on trial last year after she wrote "Happy Massacre" on her Facebook page in October 2014 during Eid al-Adha, the Muslim feast of sacrifice.

Egyptians on Monday marked the fifth anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak amid tight security and a warning from the new regime that demonstrations will not be tolerated.

Dozens of masked policemen deployed in several Cairo squares including near Tahrir Square -- the epicenter of the 18-day anti-Mubarak revolt -- to prevent potential protests against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's government.

An Egyptian affiliate of the jihadist Islamic State group claimed responsibility Friday for a bomb blast during a police raid on a Cairo apartment that killed seven people, including five policemen.

Thursday's explosion in the Al-Haram district, near the pyramids, came as police raided a flat suspected to be a militant hideout and tried to defuse an explosive device, the interior ministry said on its Facebook page.

The Egyptian branch of the jihadist Islamic State group on Thursday said it had bombed a pipeline that carries gas to Jordan and to a major industrial zone in north Sinai.

Security sources confirmed that attackers set off explosive devices under the pipeline close to Al-Midan village in the north of the peninsula. They said the blasts did not cause any casualties.

At least 15 people drowned when an unlicensed ferry capsized in Egypt's Nile river north of Cairo overnight, the government said on Friday.

Rescue teams recovered 15 bodies in the Kafr al-Sheikh province north of Cairo, the cabinet said in a statement, adding that three survivors of the accident were hospitalized. 

A couple and their three children, including a five-year-old girl, were killed Thursday when shelling hit their house in North Sinai, where Egypt's army is fighting jihadists, state news agency MENA reported.

A teenager was also wounded in the attack, in the town of Rafah, which borders the Gaza Strip, the agency said.

Egypt said Thursday the country's new parliament will convene on January 10, weeks after a legislative election that was marred by a low turnout in the absence of any opposition.

The first parliamentary election since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 was held in two phases between October 17 and December 2, and saw a turnout of only 28.3 percent.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat traveled to Egypt on Tuesday on a visit that extends to the end of the current week, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Wednesday.

It said that the trip does not have a political agenda.