Egypt's army killed four militants and raided 28 sites in Sinai on Monday and Tuesday as parts of its campaign against an Islamist insurgency in the peninsula.

Twenty-seven people were arrested during the operation,16 of whom were wanted and 11 were suspects, a military spokesman said.

Egyptian security forces have been facing a decade-long jihadist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, with militant attacks increasing over the past year, and expanding into Cairo and the Nile Delta, killing hundreds of army and police personnel. The military has also announced the killing and arrest of hundreds of militants.

Civilians have also been caught up in the violence with local residents in North Sinai being found killed, some decapitated, reportedly by militants over the past months.