A massive roadside bomb killed six policemen in Egypt Tuesday morning in an attack officials say was carried out by al-Qaeda-inspired extremists.

Egyptian Interior Ministry officials said a joint police and army unit was traveling over a highway in the Sinai Peninsula when the bomb detonated, killing five police conscripts and an officer, the Associated Press reported.

The bomb was tucked underneath the highway's asphalt in an area of the peninsula known as Wadi Halfa. It went off as the unit's armored vehicle passed through, destroying the vehicle and ripping all the bodies, an unnamed security official told the AP.

It is not clear who carried out the attack, but security officials say it bares similarities to others carried out by the al-Qaeda-inspired group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis. Officials did not release any more details about the attack.

Attacks on security forces have occurred more frequently ever since former Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was ousted in a military-led operation in July 2013. In the past Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has said the attacks were retaliation for the government's persecution of Morsi supporters.

Earlier this month, 11 police officers were killed when a roadside bomb went off near an armored vehicle in the same Sinai Peninsula.  

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood has also been blamed for the spike in violence. The group denies the accusations, the AP reported. Egypt's military launched an offensive against the Islamists after Morsi's outsing, but the violence has continued and 1,500 have been killed in clashes with security officials, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Morsi is currently in jail pending a trial for numerous capital charges.