The Egyptian military is crediting a tank driver with saving dozens of lives by driving over a vehicle loaded with explosives.
Video released by the Egyptian Ministry of Defense shows a car approach a checkpoint on Thursday, south of al-Arish in the North Sinai region.
Suddenly, the tank rams the vehicle which reportedly contained four gunmen.
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Moments later, the crushed vehicle is seen smoking and then explodes, killing seven civilians.
The military said two children were among the dead.
The Ministry of Defense said the maneuver helped prevent the attackers from killing more civilians, saying the blast had the potential to kill up to 50 people.
Insurgents have carried out series of suicide bombings and attacks in Egypt since the ousting of former Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, whose one-year rule proved divisive.
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The violence has been concentrated in the northern Sinai Peninsula, but it has also spread to the mainland, including the capital, Cairo.
Interior Ministry said its forces killed eight and arrested five members of the Hasm movement on Sunday, a militant group with suspected links to the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
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The group, which routinely targets Egyptian security forces with bombings and drive-by shootings, claimed responsibility on Friday for an earlier attack on a three-car police convoy that killed one policeman and wounded three others in Fayoum governorate, southwest of Cairo.
— With files from Associated Press.
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