Egypt's Armed Forces Spokesman Colonel Gharib Abdel-Hafez said the explosion killed a non-commissioned officer and injured three others, offering condolences to the family of the martyr and wishing a speedy recovery to the wounded.

The Armed Forces affirmed that its role in peacekeeping emanates from its belief in the importance of peace, co-existence and elimination of terrorism under the umbrella of the United Nations (UN), said the spokesman.

Egypt is the seventh largest contributor of troops to UN peacekeeping operations at present, according to the UN.

Egypt first joined the ranks of UN peacekeeping back in 1960, as part of peace operations in the Republic of Congo. Since then, Egypt has contributed to 37 peacekeeping missions, with the participation of over 30,000 officers, who have been deployed to 24 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, the UN quoted the Egyptian contingent commander Colonel Mazhar Abdel Fattah as saying in August.

Egypt, according to the UN, currently deploys nearly 3,200 military and police personnel to UN peace operations in several African countries.