The tank crew moved into action when they realised the car was on a suicide mission and lives were at risk near a military security checkpoint in North Sinai.
Along with three army vehicles, the Egyptian army tank tried to block the car but when it continued to move forward the tank rolled over it, crushing the occupants, in a bid to save lives.
Seven civilians, including two children, were killed when the car bomb exploded but the quick thinking of the tank crew appears to have averted a much higher death toll.
The explosion happened 200 metres from its military target, “when an Egyptian soldier used a tank to stop the vehicle,” according to an Egyptian army statement.
The victims — three men, two women and two children — “happened to be in the area in front of the ambush during the blast,” the statement added, without saying when the incident happened.
“The explosion was large, carrying about 100 kilograms of high explosives,” an army spokesman said in the statement.
Egypt’s military is battling a local affiliate of the Islamic State group that has waged a deadly insurgency in the northern Sinai, killings hundreds of members of the security forces.
Since December, IS has also targeted Christians in other parts of the country, including in Cairo, killing dozens.
The jihadists have threatened to carry out further attacks on Christians, who make up about 10 per cent of Egypt’s 90 million people.
The bombing by IS of a Russian airliner carrying holiday-makers from a South Sinai resort in 2015 killed all 224 people on board and severely damaged the country’s tourism sector.
VIDEO: ISIS: tank rolls over car with suicide bombers caught on video | Perth Now
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