Egypt's army announced on Tuesday that security forces killed eight militants and arrested 12 others in an operation in North Sinai.

In the statement reported by state news agency MENA, the army said security forces raided and destroyed a number of buildings used by militants to hide and monitor security forces in the area and a cache of explosive devices. 

In mid-October, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi extended a state of emergency in designated areas of the North Sinai governorate for three months, starting 31 October.

The Egyptian army and police have been battling an entrenched Islamist insurgency for several years in North Sinai.