A Russian passenger plane with 224 people on board crashed in a mountainous part of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, leaving "many" dead including 17 children, officials said.

The chartered plane had taken off from the south Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh bound for Saint Petersburg and lost contact with air traffic control 23 minutes later before crashing in the restive peninsula.

Egyptians cast their ballots Tuesday in a first round run-off of a parliamentary vote expected to elect lawmakers firmly backing President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the absence of any opposition.

Turnout for the first round of voting held in 14 of Egypt's 27 provinces last week was just 26.6 percent, and in the initial hours of polling on Tuesday there was no sign that more voters were turning out.

Four people including two Egyptian policemen were wounded Friday in a failed attempt to dismantle a bomb outside a Cairo hotel near the pyramids, a security official said.

Two policemen and two hotel security guards were wounded as they tried to deactivate the explosive device found by security guards outside the Meridien hotel near the Giza pyramids, he said.

Egyptian authorities have granted given government workers a half-day off in an attempt to bolster low turnout in the country's parliamentary election.

The Cabinet decree, reported in the state-owned daily Al-Ahram on Monday, reflected deep concern over the turnout in the first legislative election since Egypt's last parliament was dissolved in June 2012 following a court ruling declaring its election unconstitutional.

Egyptians trickled in to polling stations Sunday to elect a new parliament that will tighten President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's grip on power after he crushed all opposition since ousting his Islamist predecessor.

The vote for the much-delayed 596-member parliament is being staged in two phases ending on December 2, with Egyptians abroad casting their votes for the first round from Saturday.

Egyptians begin voting Sunday for a parliament expected to step firmly in line behind President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has crushed all opposition since ousting his Islamist predecessor in 2013.

The much-delayed election -- the previous assembly was dissolved in June 2012 -- will be in two phases between October 18 and December 2.

An Egyptian court Monday ordered the release of ousted president Hosni Mubarak's two sons who were sentenced to three years in jail for corruption, a judicial official and their lawyer said.

The court ordered Alaa and Gamal Mubarak to be released after having taken into account time served since their arrest in 2011, the judicial official and defense lawyer Farid al-Deeb said.

Eleven would-be migrants from Syria and Africa drowned when a boat bound for Europe capsized off the Egyptian port of Baltim, security and medical officials said Sunday.

The coastguard took into custody 15 survivors identified as Syrians, Egyptian and people of other African nationalities after the sinking of the trawler on Saturday night.

Russia and the United States are expected to take part in Syria peace talks in October, along with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, Russia's deputy foreign minister said Monday.

A meeting of an international contact group of the "most influential outside players" will "be pushed forward to October after the U.N. General Assembly," deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov said, quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said in an interview that the Mideast region needs to cooperate to defeat a worsening terrorist threat that has led to a "ferocious war" in Egypt and created the danger of some countries "sliding into failure."

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press Saturday night, al-Sisi also said that Syria should not be divided after its civil war, that the Egyptian military needs to be "augmented" to defeat terrorists fighting in the Sinai and Western Desert, and that efforts should be renewed to solve the Palestinian issue and expand Egypt's nearly 40-year-peace with Israel to include more Arab countries.