The Egyptian army killed two militants in an operation in North Sinai's Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid, and arrested seven others, state news agency MENA reported.

MENA added that several "terrorist hideouts" used to launch attacks against army and police forces in Sinai were destroyed, as well as two tunnels connecting Sinai to Gaza it claimed were used for smuggling.

Egypt's army is countering an insurgency based in the North Sinai governorate by Islamist militants that has so far led to the deaths of hundreds of police and army personnel.

A surge in violence occurred after the bloody dispersal of a sit-in in support of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in August 2013, moving militant activity to the Cairo and the Nile Delta, as well as Upper Egypt.