Egyptian police arrested two people on Wednesday for "spreading the ideology of the Islamic State organisation" and aiding North Sinai militants through social media platforms, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

Police say they arrested an 18-year-old man in Sharqiya for running a Facebook page aimed at spreading the extremist ideas of the Islamic State, as well as another man in the Red Sea governorate who was communicating via Facebook with North Sinai militants.

Authorities say the second suspect provided militant groups in North Sinai with information that aided in the carrying out of terrorist attacks, according to state security investigations.

The two men have been placed under 15 days precautionary detention pending further investigations. 

Article 29 of Egypt's anti-terrorism law mandates a five-year prison sentence for anyone creating a website that calls for terrorist actions, impedes justice, or provides a platform for exchanging information about terrorists and their movements.

The Egyptian army has been battling an entrenched Islamist insurgency for several years in North Sinai, with hundreds of security forces killed in militant attacks.

In November 2014, the Sinai based militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to the Syria/Iraq-based Islamic State group.