The New York Times reported late on Thursday that a bomb had exploded near Egypt’s Suez Canal, with one person being killed and dozens being wounded.

Egypt has been hit with a string of car bombs and suicide attacks since July 3, when the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi. The military has pursued an offensive in the eastern Sinai Peninsula to try to drive Islamic militants from villages near the border with the Gaza Strip and Israel.

The violence came shortly after an announcement by the country’s military-backed government that a draft constitution designed to facilitate a democratic transition would be put to a national vote in a matter of weeks. English-language Egyptian media outlets wrote that an article in the new constitution dealing with civil liberties “could be seen as an improvement on the equivalent articles from the 1971 and 2012 constitutions as it limits the types of cases for which a civilian could stand trial before a military court,” though a different article in the same outlet documented criticism by activists regarding “the potential for future labour action under the provisions of the draft charter.” The Israel-oriented Algemeiner outlet noted on Thursday that the draft constitution deemphasized Islamic law, though the outlet acknowledged that the new version had not completely removed mentions to Sharia.

[Photo: Euronews / YouTube]