Thirty-five suspected Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis militants were killed in military aerial raids on North Sinai late Thursday, security sources said, hours after five security personnel were killed in clashes with "terrorists".
The "clashes", which erupted early Thursday between "terrorists" and security checkpoints in North Sinai cities of al-Arish and Sheikh Zuweid, also left 15 "terrorists" killed, the Armed Forces Spokesman Mohamed Samir said.
Militancy inside Egypt has seen a significant rise since the military ouster of former President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013, with most attacks targeting security forces in North Sinai.
Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt's most active militant group, has claimed responsibility for most militant attacks carried out in the governorate. The group pledged allegiance to Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria last November, renaming itself as the "Sinai Province".
Amid intensified campaigns by Egypt's military to fight the insurgency, hundreds of suspected militants have been killed in the past few weeks alone.
