Egypt Coup: State of Emergency in Suez and Sinai after Islamist Attack on Troops [VIDEO]

The Egyptian army has declared a state of emergency in Suez and parts of Sinai after Islamist militants launched multiple attacks on military sites in the volatile peninsula after a coup deposed the Muslim Brotherhood president, Mohamed Morsi.

At least one soldier was killed and two wounded in a rocket attack against a police station in the border city of Rafah, near the Gaza Strip, authorities said. The police station was close to the local military intelligence HQs.

Egyptian authorities responded by closing the border crossing into Gaza indefinitely.

The victim was named in Egyptian media as 22-year-old Yehia Mohammed Abu al-Magd.

Some 50km west, the airport of the coastal town of el-Arish was also targeted by militants who launched rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades at a security checkpoint.

The airport hosts military aircraft and no damage was reported. Two other checkpoints in the area were reportedly also attacked by gunmen.

The attacks were believed to have been in revenge for the toppling of Morsi by the military in Cairo.

Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood had close ties with Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007.

Egyptian authorities deployed reinforcements in el-Arish.

Security in the Sinai peninsula has deteriorated since the 2011 revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.

Islamist groups said to have links to al-Qaeda operate in the sparsely populated desert area sometimes teaming up with local Bedouin tribesmen and smugglers.