A roadside bomb struck an Egyptian army vehicle late Thursday killing an officer and a soldier in the insurgent flashpoint of the Sinai Peninsula, security officials said.

The attack occurred south of the town of El-Arish, scene of frequent attacks by Islamist militants on security forces.

Opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime will meet in Cairo to try to reach a common "vision" to end the nearly four-year war, an opposition source said Wednesday.

"Several opposition groups and individuals have been in talks for more than two months, and we have been in contact with them to try to reach a joint vision to solve the crisis," said Munzer Khaddam of the National Democratic Body for Democratic Change, which is tolerated by the regime.

Egyptian and Qatari intelligence officials have met to arrange talks between leaders of the two countries to end a row over the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi, a diplomatic source said Wednesday.

The planned summit is part of reconciliation efforts brokered by Saudi Arabia after Qatar this month pledged its "full support" for Egypt.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Wednesday she is optimistic that Egypt may release jailed Australian journalist Peter Greste within days.

Greste and two Al-Jazeera colleagues -- Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed -- were sentenced in June to seven years in jail for defaming Egypt and aiding banned Islamists.

A prominent Egyptian satirist has been fined millions of dollars over a dispute with a television channel which suspended his show after it lampooned military leaders, officials said Tuesday.

Bassem Youssef, often compared to U.S. satirist Jon Stewart, moved Al-Bernameg (The Program) to Saudi-owned channel MBC last year after it was pulled by the private Egyptian broadcaster CBC.

Egypt kept its Rafah border crossing with Gaza open for a third day on Tuesday, state media said, after nearly 2,000 people used the terminal in the first two days.

The Rafah crossing, the only access point to the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel, opened on Sunday for only the second time in two months to allow people stranded in Egypt to enter the Palestinian enclave.

Qatar's Al-Jazeera network said Monday it was "temporarily" closing its Egypt-dedicated channel, accused of bias towards the banned Muslim Brotherhood, a day after the Gulf state pledged support for Cairo.

The decision appeared to be a direct result of a thaw between Doha and Cairo two days after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received a Qatari envoy following Saudi mediation.

Five members of Egypt's deadliest militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, were killed on Sunday in clashes with police, the interior ministry said.

The jihadists, who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group, "opened fire" after security forces stormed a farm where the militants were hiding and preparing bombs, the ministry said in a statement.

Qatar has pledged its "full support" to Egypt, an official statement said, ending more than a year of regional isolation over its support for Cairo's ousted Islamist president. 

An Egyptian court on Sunday tried 26 men for alleged debauchery after accusing them of homosexual activity at a Cairo public bathhouse in a case that sparked international condemnation.