A leader of the Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis militant group was allegedly killed late Thursday night by unknown assailants, Reuters' Aswat Masryia reported North Sinai security sources as saying.

The sources elaborated that militant leader Shady El-Mene'i was killed during clashes in the central Sinai area, along with five other militants.

Another security source told Sky News Arabia TV channel that El-Mene'i was killed in an ambush by tribal militants in the area surrounding Mount Al-Maghara.

The army spokesperson's official Facebook page posted a short statement late on Thursday saying an operation targeting "highly criminal elements" resulted in the killing of six militants and the torching of their car.

The short statement did not reveal further details about the operation or the militants' identity.

Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis was designated a terrorist group by a court order last April. The militant group stepped up its operations against Egyptian security forces in Sinai and the rest of Egypt after the forced dispersal by security forces of the Rabaa Al-Adawiya and Nahda protest camps demanding the reinstatement of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last summer.

The Islamist militant group has claimed responsibility for several attacks in Egypt, including the bombing of the Mansoura security directorate, as well as the attempted assassination of Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim.