A high military court in Ismailia has rejected appeals by fifteen terrorists convicted of killing soldiers in North Sinai, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported on Monday, confirming the death penalties issued to them.

The defendants were found guilty of killing two army officers and seven soldiers and attempting to bomb a security patrol in Arish city in 2013.

A North Sinai military court sentenced the 15 defendants to death in June 2015. They appealed the sentence.

Egyptian security forces are battling a North Sinai-based Islamist militancy that intensified following the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.