Students at schools deemed at risk of terrorism in North Sinai were moved to safer schools for the start of the new academic year, the local governor told state news agency MENA on Sunday.

Sixteen million Egyptian students returned to schools on Saturday amid tight security measures.

North Sinai has witnessed a spike in terrorism since the removal of elected president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, with almost daily explosions targeting police and army personnel. Civilians are often caught in the crossfire of the war between security forces and Islamist militants.

Governor Abdel-Fattah Harhour said the evacuated schools are those near the border as well as those where security operations are ongoing.

The local authorities have collaborated with the police and army, according to Harhour, to secure all schools, as well as the commute of students and teachers.

On Friday, a 50-year-old man and a nine-year-old boy were wounded in separate militant attacks in the North Sinai city of Sheikh Zuweid.

The military claims it has killed and arrested hundreds of "terrorists" in recent months, while militant attacks on security sites and personnel have claimed hundreds of lives.