Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has summoned his Cabinet to an emergency meeting Friday to discuss serious security problems his government faces in the Sinai peninsula.

In recent weeks, Islamic militants have launched a number of attacks on government installations in Sinai, including a brazen raid on a police station in the northern Sinai city of in early Auguast. A few days ago, the government launched an extensive military campaign to combat rising militant influence in the peninsula.

Moreover, Israel killed five Egyptian policemen in a raid that it launched across the Gaza-Egypt border to chase Palestinian militants.

The minister of interior and representatives of the Egyptian Army are set attend the cabinet meeting.

Meanwhile, Egypt today issued Israel with an official protest over the deaths of the security personnel.

"Egypt has filed an official protest to Israel over the incidents at the border yesterday (Thursday) and demands an urgent investigation over the reasons and circumstances surrounding the death of three of Egypt's forces," an Army official told Reuters.